


House of the Dead

by Hound and Hare (tittysatan)



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: (mechanical) body horror, Abusive Relationship, Brainwashing, Emotional Abuse, Gaslighting, Hatesex, I pretty clearly wrote myself into a corner here haha, Imprisonment, Incestuous Undertones, It's all pretty oblique but I should probably tag it huh, M/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Murder, Mentions of Suicide, Prosthetic Limbs, Quadruple Amputee, Sexual Abuse, Stockholm Syndrome, Unreliable Narrator, Victim Blaming, a bad time is had by all, but I guess this is just my danny fanfic pseud now, fucked up clone ethics, fucked up family(?) dynamics, if you can call it that, not actually illustrated, shit's fucked
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-09-07 02:49:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16845664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tittysatan/pseuds/Hound%20and%20Hare
Summary: Danny doesn't understand why Vlad feels the need to keep secrets from him. Danny doesn't understand a lot of things.





	1. The Boy From the Laboratory

Vlad was up to something. It had taken Danny ages to notice, since he was usually in lessons or playing video games or whatever, but Vlad would always disappear from around two to five PM every day. He’d answer texts, but he took longer than usual, and he wouldn’t pick up his phone. It was weird. It wasn’t that he thought he was cheating on him or whatever, Vlad would never do that to him, but he didn’t like that he was keeping secrets. He didn’t like that he felt the need to.

“Hey, Vlad?” Danny finally worked up the nerve to ask one night, curled up half-asleep against him. “Where do you go in the afternoons?”

Vlad tensed in his arms for an instant. “W-why, whatever do you mean, my dear boy?”

“You know what I mean,” Danny mumbled against his chest. “You’re never around, and you won’t answer my calls.”

“You must be imagining things,” Vlad said. “And it’s nothing you need concern yourself with anyways.”

“Yeah, but–”

And then Vlad kissed him, hard and passionate, hands roaming over his body, and by the time he pulled away Danny had forgotten all about what he’d been trying to ask.

He didn’t forget entirely, though, and it was clear from how evasive Vlad was being that there was something going on. And when he didn’t stop even after he knew Danny had noticed, well, he finally got annoyed enough and curious enough to turn invisible one day and tail him.

Vlad didn’t leave the mansion, which was the first surprise. He went down to the basement, through the lab, to an empty corner. Then he glanced around a few times and passed incorporeally through the wall.

So yeah. Something weird was definitely going on. Danny wasn’t gonna risk following him further; he’d seen enough, and he could come back to investigate later when he knew Vlad was out.

He didn’t like this. It didn’t feel right, spying on Vlad, but what else could he do? He had to know. He loved him too much to let him keep secrets, especially if he really was…no, no, he couldn’t be, he’d never do that to him.

But Danny still couldn’t help but worry. After all, what else could it be?

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t until a week or so later that he finally got his chance. He was sprawled on the couch, reading comics, when Vlad came in. “I’m afraid I’ve got a dinner meeting tonight, little badger. I won’t be back until late.”

“Aw man… How late?”

“Past your bedtime, unfortunately.”

“…I’ll wait up, then.”

“Why, aren’t you needy…!” Vlad laughed, leaning down to kiss him. “But you know you need your rest. Be good for me, won’t you?”

Danny half-stood from the couch as Vlad pulled away, wishing the kiss could last longer, that he could pull him down on top of him and make him call his stupid business colleagues and tell them he had something much more important to do than their stupid business meeting, but more importantly, this was his chance to investigate. And he did want to be good for him. “…fiiiiiine.”

“That’s my boy,” Vlad said, tousling his hair before heading back out. “Have a nice night!”

“Not without you,” Danny mumbled to the empty room.

He finished the comic he’d been reading, poked his head into the garage to make sure Vlad really had gone, and then slipped invisibly down to the basement. Sure enough, the wall in that corner had a hallway behind it. It was a pretty decent hallway too, with lights and everything. Danny didn’t know what he’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been that. And there was a door at the end of it.

Taking a deep breath, steeling himself, Danny passed through it.

It was a little apartment. Pictures on the walls, a TV blaring, some kinda couch-bed hybrid.

And then Danny saw who was on the couch, and he was so surprised he turned human, falling to the floor in a heap.

It was a boy, his age, with tan skin and snow-white hair and glowing green eyes. And he didn’t have any arms or legs.

“Oh shit, you actually exist!” the amputated Danny laughed, shifting to get a proper look at him. “I seriously thought Vlad had just screwed up again and was too embarrassed to admit it. Oh, uh, TV off.” The screen went black, leaving the room dead silent.

Danny blinked once, then twice. He couldn’t get his thoughts straight. Some vague part of him was saying he should have expected this. “…you’re _him_ ,” he mumbled, still too shaken to move. “You’re the original, you’re Danny Fenton.”

“The one and only,” Fenton said with a shrug. “…kind of. Don’t just sit there, c’mere.” He patted the couch with a stump.

Mechanically, Danny stood, walked over, sat down, trying not to stare at the gleaming black and green collar around Fenton’s neck, the matching caps on his stumps. This was too surreal.

“So, first things first, will you help jailbreak me,” Fenton said.

“What? No,” Danny said. “…I don’t think Vlad would like that.”

Fenton sighed heavily. “Yeah, somehow that’s what I expected.”

“…have you just been down here this whole time?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“And your arms and legs…”

“…got made into you, I think.”

Danny couldn’t help but shudder. He’d never really thought before about what Vlad must have done to clone him. He had the feeling it wasn’t something he wanted to think about. And there were vague memories, _his_ memories, that suggested Danny wasn’t the first clone Vlad had made, and that things had not gone so well for the others.

“Pretty fucked up, huh?” Fenton said with a humorless laugh.

“…don’t say that.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming you,” he said. “You didn’t ask for any of this any more than I did.”

“…I guess.”

There was an awkward moment, Danny trying to look anywhere but at Fenton, Fenton unselfconsciously sizing Danny up.

“So how’s–”

“What does he do?” Danny said, cutting Fenton off. “Vlad comes and visits you every day, right? What do you do? Don’t tell me you…”

Fenton just stared at him for a moment, face unreadable. “Okay, yeah, I thought that might be what this was about,” he finally said. “You tailed him, right? Cause you were _so_ heartbroken at the thought of him keeping anything from you.”

Danny flushed. “You don’t have to say it like that.”

“Well, no need to worry, we just talk and watch movies and stuff. He’s been trying to teach me chess for some reason. So no, we’re not banging. Not that Vlad doesn’t wanna.”

Danny felt like he’d been shot. “…what…?”

“Oh come on, you can’t tell me you’re surprised,” Fenton said dryly. “As far as I’m concerned, the only _surprise_ is that he hasn’t raped me yet. Guess I’d better thank you for that though, huh?”

“Don’t talk about him like that.”

“What, like he’s some kinda sick fuck who cuts up teenagers and keeps them in his basement? _Cause guess what_.”

“That’s not…” Danny said, hands clenched, eyes starting to water. “He just… It’s cause he…”

“Oh wow, you seriously love him, don’t you?” Fenton said with the same humorless laugh. “You poor bastard.”

Danny stood, wiping his eyes with the heel of his hand. “You’re a real jerk, you know that?”

“And you’re a real Vladdy’s boy.”

“How long did you spend coming up with that one?”

“Listen, I’ve got a lot of free time down here.”

“Yeah, well, don’t let me interrupt you,” Danny snapped, turning and storming out.

“Hey, wai–” was as far as Fenton got before the door slammed shut.

This was stupid. Danny didn’t know how to feel about any of it. He was starting to wish he’d just listened to Vlad to begin with and minded his own business. Knowing only made everything worse.

Fenton was right, he _knew_ he was, it _was_ messed up for Vlad to just keep him in the basement like that, but… What was Danny supposed to do about it? He loved him. Vlad was his father, his lover, his everything; there was nothing he could do that would make Danny love him any less. He’d loved him as long as he’d been alive.

But he was a clone of Fenton, and Fenton hated Vlad.

Danny didn’t want to think about it. He wasn’t going to think about it. It didn’t matter, none of it mattered, he had Vlad and that was all he needed.

 

Late that night, when Vlad climbed into bed next to him, Danny shifted close and kissed him. “I thought I told you not to stay up,” the man said, and the fondness in his voice made Danny’s chest ache.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said, and kissed him again, wrapping arms and legs around him, grinding up against him.

Vlad sighed, pushing him back by the shoulders. “It’s late, Daniel.”

He pulled himself in close again, drying his teary eyes against the man’s chest.“…please, Vlad.”

Another sigh, then a soft kiss. “Oh, very well, but just a quick one. Honestly, you’re so clingy.”

Vlad leaned up against the headboard and pulled Danny over crosswise to him, head in his lap so he could suck the man off as he was fingered, squirming against the sheets and moaning into his cock until Vlad’s practiced touch brought him to orgasm. It was another few minutes before Vlad came as well, gasping softly as he tensed under Danny, legs tightening around his back, filling his mouth with cum.

“Is my pampered little prince satisfied now?” Vlad asked as they settled back under the covers, spooned together.

“Mm-hm.”

“Good. Now get some sleep.”

 

* * *

 

It bothered Danny, though. Of course it did. For a whole laundry list of reasons he didn’t wanna think about, but couldn’t put out of his head. Bothered him enough that a few weeks later, when Vlad went out in the morning to play golf, Danny had the chef make him up some milkshakes and took them down to the basement. There was an audiobook playing, and Fenton looked about as bored as it was possible for someone to look.

“Uh, hi,” Danny said, not quite able to look at Fenton as he made himself visible.

“Oh thank god,” Fenton said. “Music off. Here, put that down where I can get at it!” Danny did as he was told, watching bemusedly as Fenton drained half his milkshake in a single long slurp. “Mm, that’s the stuff!” he sighed happily. “I’ve barely eaten in literal months and _boy_ did I miss it.”

“…wait, how?”

“I’m a ghost,” Fenton said, shrugging. “The alternative is rigging up some kinda bathroom system I can use without limbs, so honestly? Not complaining too much.”

“…yeah, okay, that tracks,” Danny laughed, taking a sip of his milkshake.

“I was starting to think you weren’t gonna come back,” Fenton said. “I mean, you were right, I _was_ kind of a jerk, it’s just… Can you really blame me?”

“No,” Danny said. “I really can’t.”

“I’m so relieved though, you have no idea how boring it gets,” he sighed. “Like, it’s gotten to the point where I even look forward to seeing Vlad.”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Danny asked, then caught himself. “…sorry. Stupid question.”

“I mean, he’s actually pretty decent these days, is the thing,” Fenton muttered, taking another sip of his milkshake. “Like I said he wants to bang me or whatever, and I’m still one hundred percent sure he would if I let him, but… It’s not like he talks about it or tries to feel me up or anything. Which is a really damn low bar for ‘decent,’ but whatever.”

Danny didn’t think he’d ever been so relieved in his life.

“Which is probably why I was so pissed about it last time?” Fenton continued. “I’m starting to think oh, maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all, and there’s a word for when you think that about someone who keeps you locked in his basement. A phrase for that. Whatever.” He moved as though to wrap phantom limbs around himself. “It’s terrifying.”

There wasn’t anything Danny could say to that. He sipped his milkshake, staring absently at the meaningless pastoral paintings on the walls. They were probably originals. Vlad prided himself on all his art being originals. “Vlad’s not gonna be home for another few hours,” Danny said, moving the tray with the empty glasses off the couch. “If you wanted, we could, y’know, hang out…?”

“Yes, that, totally,” Fenton said, nodding aggressively. “Like I said, super bored! And it’s great to see anyone who isn’t Vlad, just for some variety.”

“So… TV?”

“TV.”

It was still weird, watching the nature channel with the person he was cloned from, but having something to fill the silence helped.

“…how is everyone?” Fenton finally asked.

“Everyone who?”

“Y’know. Mom and Dad. Jazz. Sam and Tucker.”

“Oh, right.” A pang of directionless guilt. “They’re fine, I guess? Jack was thrilled when I said I was gonna live with Vlad. Everyone else…wasn’t.”

“You call him Jack,” Fenton muttered. “I bet you hate him, huh? Just like Vlad wants.”

“…I don’t hate him.” He didn’t _like_ him, but he didn’t hate him either. There were still pieces of Fenton left in him, deeply embedded, that wouldn’t allow that.

“You ever see them?”

“Sometimes.” Short, awkward meetings where they looked at him like they were expecting someone else, because they were. Sam and Tucker got in touch less and less often. Danny had never cared.

Another long silence, as Danny tried to lose himself in the TV special about gravitational fields and orbits. He was starting to wonder if coming here had been a mistake after all, but it didn’t feel right to just leave his original alone.

“…do you think he’d let me see them?” Fenton asked, so quiet Danny could barely hear him. “If I promised to be good.”

Danny opened his mouth to say of course he would, why wouldn’t he? before catching himself. “I dunno.” He felt like he understood Vlad less and less these days.

“Yeah,” Fenton said. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Back to the TV screen.

“…is there anything I can do?” Danny asked, unable to look at Fenton. “Y’know, like, lend a hand.”

He could feel Fenton’s eyes on him. “…are you offering to jerk me off?”

“Well, if you don’t _want_ me to…”

“Nah, I just… You really are my clone, huh?” he laughed. “Like yeah, that’s what I’d ask too.”

“So…”

“Are you kidding? Of course I want you to jerk me off,” Fenton said. “Beats having a wet dream and either sitting in it or being dick-out all day. And then needing Vlad to get me a change of shorts. No fucking thanks.”

Danny laughed at that. “So, uh… How do you wanna do this?” He’d done his duplicates before, using three to put on a show while Vlad satisfied himself with the fourth, or sometimes just when Vlad was out and he was lonely, but that was nothing but complicated masturbation. This was different.

Fenton shrugged, blushing a little, not quite able to meet his eyes. “…I wouldn’t mind kissing.”

“Pffft, gay.”

“Hey, you offered.”

Danny pushed Fenton down onto his back and kissed him, light and shallow until Fenton moved to deepen it, pushing his tongue into Danny’s mouth. He wasn’t a very good kisser. He probably hadn’t had as much practice. Danny reached down to push up his tank top, stroke him through his shorts, feeling him harden almost immediately under the touch. “Wow, you’re getting really excited, huh?”

“I’m fifteen and I can’t take care of it myself, of course I am,” Fenton muttered, letting out a rough gasp as Danny reached into his waistband to grip him properly. “Oh, fuck…”

Danny kissed him again, stroking him just the way he liked it himself, and it was no time at all before Fenton came, back arching, cry muffled in Danny’s mouth. “…that was fast.”

Fenton shot him a dirty look. “Again: fifteen, no hands. And I don’t have someone using me as their fucktoy every night, either.”

“…don’t say it like that,” Danny muttered, grabbing some tissues to wipe the cum off his hand and Fenton’s stomach.

“…yeah, sorry,” Fenton said, shrugging his clothes back into place with practiced ease. “Thanks.”

“No prob.” An awkward pause. “So, uh, I should probably get back upstairs before Vlad gets home.”

“Probably, yeah.”

Danny picked up the tray and headed for the door.

“…you’re gonna come again?” Fenton said, eyes on the TV.

“Of course.”

“Cool.”

Danny left.

 

“You love me, right?” Danny asked Vlad that night, still catching his breath, sticky with sweat and cum.

“You know I do,” Vlad said. “What a ridiculous question.”

“Yeah, but, I mean… I’m a clone, right?” Danny said, leaning back to meet his eyes. “I’m not just… Do you only want me cause you couldn’t have him?”

“Don’t be absurd,” Vlad said, kissing him. “You’re my perfect son, Daniel, _you_. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“…yeah,” Danny said, kissing him back. “I love you.”

“I love you too, my pet.”

Danny let himself drift off in Vlad’s embrace, trying his best not to let himself think about anything.

 

* * *

 

Danny went back down to the basement the next chance he got.

“Am I just what he wanted you to be?” he asked as soon as he made himself visible in front of Fenton, arms tight around himself.

“Yeah,” Fenton said, voice soft and pitying. “I think so.”

Danny stood there for a moment, staring through his original, before slowly sitting down next to him, pulling his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them.

Fenton patted him with a stump. “So? What’re you gonna do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“We could always just leave, y’know. Like, that _is_ an option. If you took this stupid collar and caps off I’d be able to use my powers again, and we could go to the Ghost Zone and stay with Frostbite or whoever.”

Danny shook his head. “I can’t leave him.”

“Of course,” Fenton sighed. “Dunno what I expected.”

It was gratifying, kind of, the certainty that he was perfect for Vlad in a way no one else could ever be. It almost took the sting off knowing he wasn’t quite human, even less human than he’d previously thought, that some fundamental autonomy was just plain not there. Danny wished he could be angry about that absence.

“Why are you here?” he finally asked, snapping the words more than he meant to.

“Uh, cause your _daddy_ won’t let me leave?”

“That’s not what I mean,” Danny muttered. “You _know_ that’s not what I mean.”

Fenton sighed, flopping over sideways onto the couch. “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? He wants me to join him. Be his ‘son’ or whatever.”

Danny had known. Fenton was right; it was pretty obvious. What else could it have been, after all?

That didn’t make it hurt any less. He might be perfect, he might be exactly what Vlad wanted him to be, but he still wasn’t good enough. He’d never be any more than an imitation, and even now, he still couldn’t make himself hate Vlad for it.

“…you gonna kill me?” Fenton asked like he was asking the time.

“…what?”

“I mean, that’s the cliché with clones, isn’t it?” he said in the same affectless tone. “Then you’d be the only one left. You’d have Vlad all to yourself. And let’s be real, this isn’t much of a life.”

Danny just looked at him for a moment. Fenton’s face was unreadable, white hair hiding his eyes. Then the clone slumped down next to him and pulled him into a crushingly tight hug, burying his face in his original’s slim chest.

“…what’re you doing?” Fenton asked, bemused.

“What kind of a stupid question is that!?” Danny snapped, shoulders starting to shake. “Of course I’m not gonna _kill_ you! Why would I ever… What’s _wrong_ with you!? What do you think I _am!?_ ”

“…yeah, fair, sorry,” Fenton murmured, moving his stumps as though to hug him back.

They stayed like that for a moment, Danny’s hands knotted in the back of Fenton’s tank top. “…is it really that bad? This?”

“Yup.”

Another, longer pause.

“…it doesn’t have to be,” Danny said. “You said you don’t hate him, right? Why can’t you just…”

“Cause then he’d win.”

“And you’d rather _die?_ ”

“…you don’t know what it’s like,” Fenton finally said. “You have no goddamn clue what it’s like for me.”

“I guess not.”

There were memories, though, buried in static and cobwebs somewhere in the back of Danny’s mind, memories that made him but weren’t his. He could remember taunting Vlad, fighting him, rejecting him at every turn, but he couldn’t understand. Whatever part of him could have understood had been torn out and love had been poured into the hollows until he drowned in it.

“Can we just stay like this for a while?” the clone asked.

“Sure,” the original replied.

They did, dozing wordlessly together, until Danny had to leave.

 

* * *

 

Danny didn’t bring it up that night. It wasn’t until a week later that he walked into Vlad’s office, settled himself on the man’s desk, and said “I know about him.”

Vlad tensed, eye twitching. “…I beg your pardon?”

“Danny Fenton. My original. We’ve talked and everything.”

Silence that seemed to stretch forever as Danny’s stomach twisted, too scared to look at Vlad.

“You followed me, didn’t you,” the man finally said.

Danny gave a tiny nod.

“I hope you know I’m very disappointed in you, Daniel.”

“I had to!” Danny blurted out before he could stop himself, tears threatening. “Why didn’t you just tell me? Don’t you trust me?”

Vlad sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think you’d take it well. I just wanted to spare your feelings, my pet.”

“I don’t want my feelings spared,” Danny muttered, arms tight around himself. “I want you to be honest with me.”

Gently, Vlad reached out to take Danny’s hand and pull him onto his lap, stroking his hair as the clone sniffled into his chest. “There, there, little badger, it’s alright now,” he said. “I’ll tell you anything you ask, so forgive me, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Danny said before it even crossed his mind that it wasn’t something he should forgive so easily. He couldn’t help it; against Vlad, he was defenseless. “Why do you keep him down there?”

“Oh, I’d be more than happy to let him have the run of the place, if only I thought he wouldn’t do something foolish the moment my back was turned,” Vlad said. “I have some fine prosthetics all ready for him, courtesy of Skulker. He’d be good as new in no time.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Danny muttered.

“Whatever _do_ you mean, then?”

“I’m what you wanted, right?” Danny said, unable to stop the tears from overflowing. “I’m your perfect son, I’m exactly what you wished he was, I might just be a clone but you _made_ me like this, so why!? Why do you still want him!? _Why am I not good enough!?_ ”

Vlad blinked, mouth hanging open. “Why, Daniel… I had no idea you felt that way.”

“I tried to tell you,” Danny said, sniffling, wiping his face messily on his sleeve before taking the tissue Vlad offered. “And besides, how else am I supposed to feel?”

“No, I suppose that’s fair,” Vlad said. He looked guilty, genuinely, and Danny had to fight the impulse to apologize. “…is it really so wrong to want you both, though?”

“…I don’t get it.”

“You said you’ve talked to him; you must have noticed the two of you aren’t a thing alike,” Vlad said. “You couldn’t serve as a replacement for him any more than he could serve as one for you.”

“So what?” Danny said, frowning petulantly. “Shouldn’t I be enough for you? Don’t you love me?”

“Of course I do, dearest,” Vlad said, kissing him tenderly. “I love you more than anything, in ways I could never love that brat. But I _want_ him.”

“Cause then you’ll win?”

A strange smile spread over Vlad’s face. “Precisely.”

Danny shuddered.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand me, I’ll treat him every bit as kindly as I treat you,” Vlad hurried to add. “Anything and everything he could desire, the world his oyster, and all he’d have to do is be mine. Not such a bad deal, now is it?”

It wasn’t; at least, Danny didn’t think it was. Fenton obviously didn’t agree, but… He’d said he’d be good if it meant being able to talk to his friends and family, right? He’d said he was starting to come around to Vlad. Maybe he’d listen now, if Danny was the one to ask.

“…you won’t love me any less, right?”

Vlad caressed his red and tear-stained face, smiling with such genuine affection that Danny felt bad for ever having doubted him. “I could never.”

“Well, in that case… I guess I wouldn’t mind having a brother.”

“You mean you’ll talk to him for me?” Vlad said, face lighting up. “Why, Daniel, you absolute angel…!”

Danny blushed, laughing as Vlad covered his face and neck with kisses, picked him up and carried him to bed. He’d been right after all; Vlad _was_ good.

 

* * *

 

“Traitor,” was all Fenton said, voice quiet and expression fixed.

Danny felt like he’d been slapped. He’d asked him to think about it, that was all, said wouldn’t it be nice to have limbs again, to be out of here, and Vlad would actually treat you really well if you’d just let him. I mean, he’s so good to me.

“You told him, didn’t you? You fucking told him.” Fenton was shaking his head, slowly, something like a smile made of anger on his face. “I don’t know what I expected from a clone.”

“…I just wanted to help.”

“Yeah? Help who? Yourself? That, that _creep_ you love so much? Cause it sure as shit wasn’t me.”

“Don’t talk about Vlad like that!” Danny said, eyes stinging.

“You know what you are?” Fenton snapped, voice cold and level, “You’re a toy. You’re a wind-up doll with my skin stretched over it, doing and thinking just what your daddy wants. You don’t have anything that wasn’t stolen from me, you don’t even have your own _name_. You’re not a person. You’re not real.”

Danny just stood there, every word like a knife. Fenton was right. That’s exactly what he was. He was fake.

He buried his face in his hands and collapsed across the couch and sobbed.

It wasn’t that long before he felt a hard metal stump pat him on the shoulder. “…I, uh… I shouldn’t be taking this out on you. Sorry.”

Danny didn’t reply, just sniffled.

“…you’re kind of a crybaby, huh?” Fenton said gently.

“Shut up,” Danny said, voice muffled in the cushions. Was this something Vlad had wanted from him too? A son who’d break down in tears, instead of scream and fight the way Fenton did?

“You’re not a bad kid. Kinda like the little brother I never had. I know you can’t help it.”

It stung, being patronized like that, but Danny had nothing to say in his defense. He _couldn’t_ help it. Fenton seemed so miserable; Danny really had just wanted to help his original, his big brother. He owed him that much. But he just wound up hurting him instead, and even now, he couldn’t understand why.

“I don’t wanna hold it against you, so just…stop, okay?” Fenton said. “I’m not gonna join him. I can’t.”

Danny wished there was anything he could say to that.

 

* * *

 

Danny started visiting Fenton more often after that, since there was no more need to hide it from Vlad. It was a relief; he’d always hated keeping secrets from him. They’d watch TV, or talk, or play video games (well, Danny would play, Fenton would yell suggestions), or sprawl on the bed together and read comics. Normal stuff, for a given value of normal. The same sort of stuff Fenton did with Vlad. At least, according to what the two of them said; they’d never all three been in the same room at once. Vlad had never offered, and Danny had never asked. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see what Vlad was like around the 'real' Danny Fenton.

And then sometimes he’d help Fenton with the things he couldn’t take care of on his own.

“…y’know, come to think of it,” Fenton said between gasps and moans, “I’m kinda…kinda surprised you offered…? Like, you love Vlad _sooo_ much…”

Danny sucked hard up the length one last time before switching to his hand. “I guess I never thought about it like that,” he said. “Since I’m a clone of you and all.” If he was getting off too, it’d be a betrayal, but this way he was just giving Fenton a hand.

And besides, when Vlad asked if he and that brat had ever coupled, and Danny had shyly admitted to what he’d done, Vlad just smirked and said they’d have to give him a show one of these days. So he didn’t seem to mind too much.

“…yeah, fair,” Fenton said.

His breath caught as Danny took him back into his mouth, continuing to work him with practiced care until his original moaned into his bit lip, writhing against the sheets as he came. Danny swallowed, licked his lips, licked Fenton clean as he lie there, dazed and panting.

“Thanks,” Fenton said, giving him a sleepy smile.

Danny nodded, smiling back. It was nice, having something he could do for his original. It made him feel a little less guilty.

 

* * *

 

“That boy’s fond of you, isn’t he, Daniel?” Vlad asked over dinner one evening.

“I guess,” Danny replied, smiling at his plate.

“I wonder if he’d stop being so foolishly stubborn if you were the one to ask him.”

“I’ve tried,” Danny said. “He told me stop trying because it wasn’t going to work, even.” He hadn’t mentioned the things Fenton had said about not being human to Vlad, less because he thought Vlad would punish Fenton for upsetting him and more because he was afraid he’d agree.

Vlad sipped his wine, staring up at the ceiling. “I think he could be persuaded, if you were willing to cooperate.”

“…cooperate how.”

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, little badger,” Vlad said. “You can see as well as I that he’s miserable. I just want to show him what he’s missing so he’ll stop doing this to himself, that’s all.”

“And it won’t be anything bad?”

“Why, of course not! You know I’d never make you do anything of the sort. I was just thinking the two of you could have a nice day out together. You’d like that too, wouldn’t you?”

Danny would like that. He didn’t go out much himself, and never without Vlad, so it’d be a nice change of pace. And Fenton would have to appreciate it too, after being stuck in the basement for months without any arms or legs. It’d be fun. It wouldn’t be anything bad at all, just like Vlad said.

The thing was, Danny wasn’t stupid, and he’d spent enough time with Fenton to know how he thought, even if he didn’t understand why he thought that way. He knew what would happen if Fenton got his limbs back and saw the stars again. He knew Fenton would hate him for it– no, he’d pity him, and that was worse.

But Danny still believed he’d be better off this way. He’d have to be, wouldn’t he? Nothing could be worse than staying there forever.

And besides, he could never refuse Vlad anything.

“Alright,” Danny said. “I’ll talk to him.”

Vlad smiled, reaching across the table to tousle his hair. “That’s my boy.”

 

* * *

 

Fenton was still asleep, white hair barely poking out from under the covers, when Danny went down to the basement. “Hey, wake up,” he said, shaking him gently by the shoulder until he started to stir, luminous green eyes blinking open.

“…jeez, what’re you here for this early…?” Fenton mumbled, burrowing back under the covers. “Lemme sleep.”

“It’s already ten.”

“That’s what I said, early.” Danny threw back the covers and Fenton groaned, rolling over to bury his face in the pillow. “Fine, I’m awake, what is it.”

“So, there’s a carnival in town.”

“Good for you.”

“I begged Vlad, and he said we could go together.”

That got Fenton’s attention. He rolled back over, propping himself up on the pillows to look at him, one eyebrow cocked. “…what’s the catch.”

Danny felt sick. “N-no catch! I just really wanted to hang out with you, that’s all, somewhere that wasn’t, y’know, here. He said you can use the prosthetics and everything. You’ll come, right? Please?”

A shadow crossed Fenton’s face for a moment before he sighed, giving his clone a tired smile. “Yeah, yeah. How could anyone say no to those puppy-dog eyes?”

“Great!” Danny said, hugging him, guilt forgotten in his excitement. “I’ll go get the prosthetics, alright? I’ll be right back!”

A moment later he was, a heavy case in his arms. “Let’s see, Vlad told me how to do this…” he said, popping the lid and taking out a slim, darkly gleaming metal arm. Mutely, Fenton held out a stump. Danny took the cap off, fighting not to shudder at the ugly red of not-quite-healed scar tissue, and fastened the arm in its place. “Give it a try!”

For a moment Fenton just looked at it, blinking. Then he rolled his shoulder, green threads like veins flashing down the arm, and slowly raised it in front of his eyes. He turned it back and forth, clenched and opened his fingers, tapped his thumb against them, clumsily at first but more and more precisely.

“Well?” Danny asked, leaning forward. “How is it?”

Fenton’s only reply was to pull the cap off his other stump and put that arm in place as well, then the legs in turn, and move to the edge of the bed to shakily stand for what must have been the first time in months. “I have dreams like this,” he said, raising his arms above his head and stretching, bending down to place his palms against the floor. He stayed there for long enough that Danny was about to ask what was wrong when Fenton suddenly straightened up, taking him by the hand and pulling him off the bed. “C’mon, let’s go outside!”

“Alright!” Danny said, turning them both incorporeal and running down the hall and through the wall together, up from the basement, out and into the sunshine.

“Ahhhh _shit_ that’s bright,” Fenton said, shadowing his eyes with a hand as he squinted around at the lawn, taking a few steps, bare metal feet brushing against the neatly mowed grass. “…I can _feel_ it,” he said, leaning down to run a hand over it. “Weird.”

A few more steps forward, then Fenton broke into a sprint, throwing himself forward in a cartwheel, failing to stick the landing and tumbling down onto his back, arms and legs spread wide, laughing. Danny didn’t think he’d ever seen him laugh before, not really. “Hey, this dumb collar turns off, right?” Fenton said as Danny jogged up next to him. “Don’t wanna get any more stares than I have to.”

“Oh, right! Uh, let me see…” He fumbled in his pocket for the instructions Vlad had written for him, and poked at the buttons until there was a flash of light and Fenton was human, dark hair gleaming in the sun. He was almost unrecognizable.

“Vlad’s not gonna show himself?” Fenton asked as they went back inside and up to Danny’s room to get him some clothes that would cover his prosthetics.

“H-he’s out on business.”

“Lucky me,” Fenton laughed, pulling on a turtleneck and a pair of thin gloves, examining himself in the mirror. “Wow, I almost look alive again!”

“We look like twins,” Danny murmured, glancing back and forth between their reflections. They’d never be mistaken for each other, though; the clone’s features were a bit softer, and the original looked more tired and sullen.

“That’s what we are, isn’t it?” Fenton said, throwing an arm around his shoulders and flashing him a grin. “…kinda.”

Danny laughed, leaning into the hug. “Kinda, yeah!”

 

It was a nice day.

The chauffeur dropped them off in front of the fair with more pocket money than they knew what to do with, and Fenton immediately dragged Danny around to all the food stands, sighing happily over how much he’d missed burgers and fries and pizza. They went on all the rides, scared the folks running the haunted house, spent an obscene amount of money losing at carnival games, played every game in the arcade, and every time someone asked if they were twins, they’d grin and say yeah, they were. Danny had never had so much fun in his life. It felt a little like a betrayal, but it was true. He loved Vlad more than anything, but they couldn’t do stuff like this together.

“Thanks so much for coming with me,” Danny said, sprawled on a hillside next to Fenton, staring up at the darkening sky.

“Course,” Fenton replied through a mouthful of cotton candy. “This was fun.”

“Right?”

“…it’s still so weird being outside,” Fenton murmured. “Like, there’s a breeze, and it’s kinda chilly, and I’d totally forgotten what that felt like. How do you forget something like that?”

Danny’s chest felt tight. Fenton knew, he had to know, so why didn’t he say anything? It would be so much easier if he’d just blame him.

“That bright star next to the moon, that’s Mars,” Fenton said, pointing up at the sky. “And that one there, that’s—”

“Jupiter, right?” Danny said. “It’s not dark out enough to see yet, but it should be in Libra right now.”

Fenton whistled. “Wow, you’re even better at this than I am! You wanna be an astronaut too?”

Danny shrugged. “Maybe an astronomer.” The thought of having to go months or years without seeing Vlad was unbearable. “You know we’ve got an observatory?”

“I heard, yeah.”

“It’s pretty nice. 25-inch telescope and everything. You should check it out.”

Silence. Danny could feel Fenton’s eyes on him, but he couldn’t meet them.

“We can still leave,” Fenton said. “We can leave anytime you want. We don’t have to go back.”

“…yeah, I do.”

“…yeah, I know.”

Fenton pushed himself to his feet and walked downhill to where the car was waiting for them.

 

As soon as they got back inside the mansion, Vlad was there.

“Welcome home, Daniel,” he said, pulling the clone into his arms and kissing him, keeping an arm wrapped around his waist as he turned to the original. “And as for _you_ , I’ll be wanting those limbs back.”

“I knew this was all your idea,” Fenton said, teeth showing in something like a smile, eyes flashing as they met Vlad’s. “Sick fuck.”

“Language, boy,” Vlad tsked, letting go of Danny to step forward, something shining dark and unfamiliar in the man’s eyes. “You know my offer. Accept it, or it’s back to the basement with you.”

“You know what I’m gonna say,” Fenton said, staring up at him like a provocation.

“I want to hear you say it,” Vlad said, smile all hungry white teeth.

Fenton bit his lip, face lightly flushed, chest rising and falling under his shirt as he breathed, eyes never leaving Vlad’s. “…I’m all yours,” he said, voice low and husky and sarcastic. “Do whatever you want with me, _father_.”

Vlad shivered ecstatically, inhaling sharply through his teeth and letting out a sigh that trembled with anticipation. “Bedroom. Both of you. Now.”

Danny jolted as Vlad met his eyes, blushed and looked down as he followed the others. He felt strangely like a voyeur.

“Up on the bed with you,” Vlad said as he shut the door behind them, gaze raking up and down Fenton before locking onto his eyes. “Strip for me, Daniel.”

“…I thought _I_ was Daniel,” Danny said softly.

“No, pet, that’s him,” Vlad said, not even sparing him a glance. The clone couldn’t breathe.

“Don’t talk to him like that,” the original snapped. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t exactly mind having my name back, but you can’t just…just give him mine and then take it away again. You need a new one, right?” he said, turning to the clone.

He didn’t know how to respond. Daniel Masters was the only name he’d ever had, but it had been his original’s to begin with, so… He didn’t really have a right to argue, did he? He’d only ever been borrowing it.

“Hm, let me see… Oh, I know!” Fenton—no, he was Danny now, wasn’t he?—said. “How about Junior? Jun for short!”

“Why, that’s not a bad idea at all,” Vlad said, nodding. “Junior it is.”

The clone, Junior, forced a weak smile.

“Now then, Daniel, _son_ , where were we?” Vlad purred, turning all his attention back to Danny. “Strip.”

Eyes on Vlad’s, Danny pulled his gloves off with his teeth and tossed them aside, slowly pulled his shirt up and off to reveal his smooth lean torso, the collar around his throat. He ran a black metal hand down his chest, brushing over a nipple, smirking when Vlad’s breath caught. “God, you’re so easy.”

“I didn’t tell you to talk, boy,” Vlad said, hand at his mouth. “I told you to strip.”

“Wow, and impatient too!” Danny said with a mocking laugh, slipping thumbs into his waistband and pushing pants and underwear slowly down, breath catching as his erection sprang back up. “Well? Like what you see?” he said, kneeling there on the bed, naked and hard and staring at Vlad with heavy-lidded, fever-bright eyes.

Vlad’s only response was to step close, hook a single finger in Danny’s collar and pull it so that their faces were an inch apart, bodies shivering with the tension of not touching. “You’re mine.”

“That’s right,” Danny breathed, teeth bared and voice mocking. “I’m yours.”

Then Vlad’s mouth was on his throat, kissing and biting, and Danny was throwing his head back to let him, knotting a hand in his shirt and lapels and tearing them open with impossible strength to bare the man’s torso.

“That suit cost more than some people make in a year,” Vlad said as he shrugged off the tatters, then his pants, shoving Danny onto his back and bearing down on top of him.

“Good,” Danny said, back arching as the man kissed down his chest, biting at a nipple. “I want to ruin everything you own.”

“Yourself included?”

“Oh, you _bet_.”

“Why, you little deviant,” Vlad smirked, fumbling in the bedside table for lube without taking his eyes off Danny.

The boy spread his legs on his own, letting out a rough gasp as Vlad pushed a finger inside him. “I don’t wanna hear that from a pedo.”

“You’re an adolescent, Daniel, not a child,” Vlad drawled, adding another finger and working them until Danny cried out. “Which would make me an ephebophile, if anything.”

“You’re -ah!- you’re gonna argue vocab…three knuckles deep in a teen boy…?” Danny panted, grinding his hips up against his hand. “Freak.”

“What, hurt that I’m not giving you my full attention?” Vlad said, smirking as he withdrew his hand, slicked his cock down, hitched Danny’s metal legs up over his hips. “Well then, I’d better rectify that, now hadn’t I?”

“This desperate already?” Danny said, reaching up to pull the tie from his hair and twist his fingers in it, dragging him down. “And here I thought an old man like you would have some self-control.”

“Shut up,” Vlad breathed into Danny’s mouth.

“Make me.”

Vlad drove inside as their lips met, kissing like they’d devour each other alive, all tongues and teeth, snarling abuse every time their mouths were free, sheets tearing under Danny’s grip as he was fucked raw and rough and dirty.

Junior wondered why Vlad had even asked him to come with them.

So this is what he’d meant by _want_ ; this angry, violent possessiveness, this passion, this desire that made the space between them electric and the glances they exchanged obscene. So this was the way Vlad loved the real Danny.

Junior didn’t doubt that he loved him as well (or perhaps it was only that if he let himself doubt it, he’d have nothing left to hold onto at all), but it was the way one loved a pet, a doll. When they slept together, Vlad was indulgent and vaguely bored. Junior hadn’t minded; he hadn’t known anything else was possible.

Watching the man he loved more than anything in the world lose himself so completely in someone else that he forgot Junior was even there, though… He minded that. He couldn’t help but mind.

“C’mon now…you can do better than that,” Danny panted, flipping them over to ride Vlad, saliva dripping from between his gritted teeth, digging metal fingertips into the man’s throat. “I can barely...feel a thing…”

“Careful now, boy,” Vlad said, one hand on Danny’s hip, the other tight around his wrist. “Don’t want me to take these away again...now do you…?”

“Like you’d ever.”

“Watch me.”

“Can’t ride you with no limbs...now can I?” Danny said, releasing Vlad to brace his arms behind him, throwing his head back with a ragged gasp. He continued to move as Vlad gave a wordless cry, gripping his hips tight, back arching; it was only when the man had fallen back onto the sheets, panting for breath, that Danny stopped, staring down at him with cold, disgusted amusement. “Wow, and here I thought it was _teens_ who were supposed to come fast.”

Vlad hmphed, glaring, and wrapped a hand around his erection. He’d barely begun to stroke when Danny moaned helplessly, thrusting into his hand as he rode out his orgasm, cum spattering over Vlad’s stomach and chest. “And you were absolutely right,” the man said with a self-satisfied smirk.

“...fuck you,” Danny muttered, still straddling Vlad, sprawled half across his body.

“Why Daniel, up for another round already?” Vlad said, flipping them back over, running fingers through his hair, over his face. “My my, look at you, so demanding…”

Junior cleared his throat.

“...ah jeez, sorry…” Danny said, groaning painfully as he shifted to make Vlad pull out. “I didn’t mean to ignore you, I just… Sorry.”

“...no, I’m sorry to interrupt you,” Junior said, unable to look at them. He only even said anything because he couldn’t stand to watch any longer.

“Please forgive me, little badger,” Vlad said, turning to him, kissing him deeply, sliding a hand over his stomach to pull his shirt up and off. “Here, I’ll give you all the attention you desire.”

Junior squirmed under his touch, moaning softly as he let Vlad undress him, clinging to him, melting into his indifferent kisses. He was pathetic. He knew that, but he couldn’t help it; he _needed_ Vlad, he was painfully hard and aching to be filled by him and every moment he watched the man he loved with his original twisted the knife a little more. He just wanted, just for a little while, to feel like Vlad loved him again.

But even as he stretched Junior, the man only had eyes for Danny. The original was lounging on the bed, not bothering to cover himself or even wipe himself off, watching them with an odd, fixed expression. “Don’t just lie there, Daniel,” Vlad purred. “I hear Junior has been quite the comfort to you these past weeks; you ought to show your gratitude.” Junior cried out as Vlad flipped him over onto his stomach and pushed inside, finally giving him what he’d been craving. He was still panting for breath when Vlad sat them up, leaning up against the headboard with Junior in his lap, facing Danny. “Why don’t you tend to your brother’s cock?”

Danny rolled his eyes, wincing has he moved over to position his head between Junior’s legs, looking up at Vlad. “As long as I don’t have to take it up the ass again,” he muttered. “Hurts like hell after what you did. I won’t be able to walk for a week.”

“As much as I’d like to see the two of you together,” Vlad said, stroking Danny’s hair before grasping a fistful and shoving him down onto Junior’s cock, “I’m willing to wait until you’re in good enough shape to put on a proper show. No need to thank me. Now get to work.”

Junior’s head was spinning. Vlad was moving inside him, rougher than usual, to the point that it hurt; Danny’s mouth was around him, gagging and almost choking as Vlad’s thrusts drove his cock down his original’s throat.

“How is that, Daniel?” the man purred, hand knotted tight in his hair, moving as though it was his own cock in Danny’s mouth. “Oh, you’re really no good at this at all, now are you... Well that’s alright, I’ll suppose I’ll just have to train you, the way I did Junior here.” Vlad cupped Junior’s chin in his hand, tilting his face to meet his eyes. “Isn’t that right, my pet?”

Junior moved to press his lips against Vlad’s, moaning softly into the kiss, eyes closed, trying to forget everything in the world but Vlad. He’d called him “pet” before as a term of endearment, but somehow it felt different now. Junior didn’t want to think about it. Instead he clung to Vlad’s arm, trying to keep up with his forceful thrusts, legs squirming against the sheets as he was driven into Danny’s mouth. This was good, this was what he needed, he was so close to being able to forget…

And finally it was enough. He let out a desperate cry of “Vlad…!” as he came, eyes closed tight as his body gave him the release he needed. Junior was still panting for breath as Danny pulled away, grimacing as he swallowed, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist; as Vlad pulled out, still hard, and maneuvered Junior’s limp body onto the bed beside him. Like he would a doll.

“Now now, Daniel, we’re not done yet,” Vlad said, hooking fingers in Danny’s collar and pulling his head down into his lap, brushing a foot over the original’s erection. “And it looks like you’re not done yet either.”

“Sure you trust my mouth with your cock?” Danny said, taking it in his teeth and digging them in until Vlad gasped, hips jerking. “Or is that how you like it, sicko?”

Vlad knotted a fist in Danny’s hair and jerked him back. “Try that again and I’ll pull your teeth out, boy.”

“What, and lose this winning smile?”

Vlad’s only reply was to shove him back down onto his cock. “Hurry up and turn yourself this way,” he panted, thrusting down his throat. “You’re dying to be touched, aren’t you?”

Danny couldn’t speak to reply, face red and teary as he glared up at Vlad; even so, he shifted to lie crosswise to him, letting out a muffled cry as the man took him in hand.

“Look at you, so excited by something like this,” Vlad smirked, fucking Danny’s throat as he jerked him off. “Whatever possessed you to deny yourself for so long, you little slut?”

Danny was writhing against the sheets, thrusting into Vlad’s hand and moaning into his cock, until suddenly his body tensed and he let out a long choked noise, cum spurting onto the man’s hip, a few drops making it onto Danny’s face.

“...why, you…” Vlad snarled as he came, forcing Danny down to the base and holding him there until the tension left his body and the original could shove himself away, hacking for breath and spitting out cum.

“Fucking gross,” he muttered, turning away to grab the sheets and wipe his face, then his body. “Well? Happy now, Vladdy?”

“Why yes I am, thank you for asking,” Vlad said. He was lounging against the headboard, absolutely disheveled and looking more satisfied than Junior had ever seen him. He pulled the clone close, stroking his hair like you’d pet a cat, eyes still on Danny. “Come now, Daniel, don’t you want me to hold you?”

“I really don’t,” Danny muttered, staring into space, shoulders trembling just a little. “Actually, I kinda want you to leave me the fuck alone.”

“What, kicking me out as soon as you’ve gotten what you wanted?” Vlad said, grabbing him by the wrist and jerking him down into his arms, only for Danny to shove himself free.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” he snapped, teeth bared and tears threatening. “I didn’t _want_ any of this, you piece of shit! You’re the one who got what you wanted so just get out, okay!? You can fuck me all you want tomorrow, I’ll even play nice and cuddle up to you like a good boy, so just...just don’t make me do it now. I _can’t_.”

Vlad stared at him for a long moment, frowning, then sat up with a hmph and climbed out of bed. “Junior?” he prompted, turning back towards the clone.

Junior looked at his outstretched hand, then his original, kneeling on the bed with his arms tight around himself, before shaking his head no. He wanted Vlad to hold him, of course he did, but this was all his fault; the least he could do was stay here with his original.

Vlad gave another hmph, threw on a dressing gown, and left, turning off the light as he went.

“C’mere,” Junior said, pulling back the covers and patting the space next to him.

Slowly, Danny unfolded himself, lying down face to face with his clone, letting him pull the covers over the both of them.

They lie there for a while in the quiet dark as Danny shifted, tossing and turning, before sitting up and removing his limbs one by one, putting them neatly beside him on the bed, holding out his last arm to Junior. “...I can’t get used to them.”

“That makes sense,” Junior said, taking it off and putting it with the others.

They settled back under the blankets, Danny moving to let Junior spoon him. “...sorry, Jun,” he said.

“I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

“I know you can’t help it.”

Junior held him a bit tighter. “That just makes it worse.”

Another long pause, so long that Junior thought Danny had fallen asleep.

“You know they say the opposite of love isn’t hate?” he said, voice strangely hollow. “It’s indifference, cause love and hate are both attracting forces. I always thought that was stupid, but I think I get it now.”

Junior didn’t reply, because there was nothing he could say. He’d never hated anyone before, at least not the way Danny hated Vlad. Something else he’d never be able to understand.

“I meant what I said before,” the original continued. “About ruining him.”

“Even if it means hurting yourself?” Junior said, burying his face in Danny’s neck.

“What fucking difference does it make, at this point.” He didn’t even sound angry; just so tired.

“...I don’t want you to,” Junior said. “I just want you and Vlad to both be happy. Why can’t we just be a family?”

Danny laughed, dry and humorless. “You’re so soft. It's like he made you so you couldn't survive on your own.”

“...I hate this,” Junior muttered into his back, tears stinging his eyes and dampening his original’s skin.

“Yeah, you and me both.”


	2. The Boy From the Basement

The door opened, and there was his mom, and the only thing that kept Danny from hugging her and never letting go was the hand on his shoulder. “Hi Danny!” Maddie said, smiling as she let them in. “Nice to see you, as always.” God, she didn't notice a thing, did she?

“V-Man!” Jack practically tackled Vlad, pulling him into a crushing hug. “How're you two keeping? Having fun together?”

“Oh yes,” Vlad said, extracting himself from Jack's arms and neatening his suit, shooting Danny a look. “Plenty of it.”

Danny felt sick.

Was this what visits had been like for Junior? Sitting at the dinner table with his family and the man who owned him, picking at casserole and making small talk as they didn't notice a single fucking thing? He never used to wear turtlenecks or long sleeves. The skin texture on his hands wouldn't pass if you looked for more than a second. Hell, maybe him and Junior were something like twins, but these were his parents! How could they not see he was someone else?

Jazz noticed, though. And after dinner, when Jack and Vlad were playing chess and Maddie had excused herself to do the dishes, she gestured for him to come upstairs with her.

“Bathroom,” Danny said, slipping out of his seat next to Vlad and leaving. He'd know something was up, but as long as he couldn't stop him, what difference did it make.

“...it's really you, right?” Jazz whispered when they were alone.

“Course it is, who else would I be?”

“I'm not oblivious, Danny,” she said, arms around herself, unable to look at him. “I know my own brother. And whoever's been visiting until now, that is _not_ my brother.”

“...yes he is,” Danny muttered.

“Don't try to deny it, you were a completely different person!”

“I never said we were the same person,” Danny said. “It's fine, okay? Everything's fine. You know about my powers, I can take care of myself.”

“...you knew I'd realized?”

“It was kinda obvious.”

“...you don't _seem_ fine,” she said, reaching out and touching his arm before pulling back with a gasp as she felt metal under his sleeve. “What...what _is_ that…!?”

“There was a...an accident,” Danny said, pulling up his sleeve to show her. Jazz was too smart to lie to, at least not any more than he had to. “I didn't want to worry you guys. It's fine though, they're good arms.”

“Arms? Both of them!?” Jazz said. “Danny, what is _happening_ with you!?”

“Now where has Daniel gotten off to, I wonder,” Vlad’s voice echoed up the stairs, loud enough to be a clear warning.

“I dunno if you're ever gonna see that kid again, but if you do, be nice to him, okay?” Danny said, turning to go back down the stairs. “He can't help being like that.” Then he headed down before Jazz had a chance to reply.

“Ah, there you are, my boy,” Vlad said, already at the door. “Come now, get your coat.”

Wordlessly, Danny did what he was told.

“Bye Danny! See you next week!” Maddie said, giving him a hug that was too short.

“You take care now!” Jack said, squeezing him and Vlad both.

“Ta!” Vlad waved as he walked out towards the waiting limo.

Danny hesitated a moment in the light of the doorway, fretting with his hands. Jazz was watching from the stairs. He could see himself running back inside, slamming the door behind him, telling his parents everything in quick panicked stammering and hoping that Vlad still cared enough about what Maddie thought of him not to go in and drag him back. It might work. He might be able to get away. Vlad would shut his limbs off, but his mom could make him new ones. They could get the collar off. He'd never have to feel Vlad’s hands on him again.

“Don't just stand there, little badger,” Vlad called from inside the limo. Amazing, how he could make anything sound like a threat.

Danny turned away from the warm light of his home and climbed into the limo next to Vlad, shutting the door behind him.

“That's my boy,” the man murmured, pulling his unresisting body close, brushing lips over his jugular. “You were so much more obedient than I expected… I was sure you were going to do something... _regrettable_.”

“Regrettable for who?” Danny asked, staring sullenly out the darkened window at the streetlights flashing past as Vlad's hands worked their way into his shirt.

“Why Daniel, I thought you'd understand by now,” Vlad chuckled, taking him by the chin to meet his eyes. “Anything you make me regret, I'll pay back ten times over. To you and him both.”

That was the problem, wasn’t it. Junior. His weak, useless, crybaby little brother who still loved Vlad more than life itself. If not for him, Danny would be long gone.

But he was responsible for his existence, and he didn’t trust Vlad not to hurt Junior just to spite him.

Vlad had probably been banking on that.

“You really can’t keep your hands off me for five minutes, huh?” Danny said as Vlad pulled his turtleneck off and pushed him down on the seat. “What would your precious first love think if she could see you now, jumping her son’s bones every chance you got?” He smirked as Vlad froze against him, ignoring the way the words made his own stomach twist. “Fucking sicko.”

Vlad stuck his fingers in Danny’s mouth. “Quiet, brat.”

Danny bit him. Hard.

Five minutes later he was on Vlad’s lap, thrusting against his cock and into his hand as the man covered his neck with lovebites that made him grit his teeth not to cry out from the pain. Danny pulled out Vlad’s hairtie and wrenched his head back to kiss him, deep and dirty, feeling the man’s grip tighten until finally Danny let out a long, low moan, body tensing as he came, before he collapsed against Vlad’s chest.

“My my, would you look at that,” Vlad said, shoving him off onto the seat next to him and holding out his hand, covered in cum. “You’d better clean up the mess you made, now hadn’t you?”

“There are tissues literally right next you,” Danny muttered, only for Vlad to grab him by the hair with his other hand and push his face into it. He licked it clean. He’d starting drinking pineapple juice lately and it really did wonders. What a fucking joke.

“That’s a good boy,” Vlad purred, wiping his hand on Danny’s hair. “But I’m sure that’s not enough to satisfy you.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, do you even know how you sound?” Danny said as Vlad pushed him to the floor between his legs. “If you’re that desperate for me to suck you off, you can just _say_ so, you don’t have to pretend _I’m_ the slut here.”

“You couldn’t go two days without my cock, and we both know it.”

“See, you’re confusing me with your _other_ teenage boytoy.”

Vlad grabbed Danny by the hair with both hands and shoved himself down his throat. The fact that he was big pissed Danny the hell off for stupid petty reasons, but also because he couldn’t breathe when Vlad facefucked him and it hurt like hell to take it up the ass. Still better than if he actually enjoyed it, though. A few painful thrusts and he was choking on cum, hacking it up right on Vlad’s suit, like he deserved.

“You know I don’t _want_ to be so rough with you, pet,” Vlad said, actually using the tissues to wipe himself off this time. “If you’d just tend to me properly, I wouldn’t have to.”

“If I stopped giving you excuses to rough me up, your poor sadistic pervert heart would break,” Danny said, pulling his pants back on. “Besides, isn’t that why you made Jun?”

Vlad paused, frowning, halfway in the process of tucking himself back in his pants. “I beg your pardon?”

“Y’know, so you could have a matched set,” Danny drawled. “The good boy and the brat.”

“No, that’s not what I… You think _I_ made him that way?”

Danny was starting to feel sick, seeing the puzzlement on Vlad’s face. “Didn’t you? He’s everything you wanted me to be, isn’t he?”

“He said something like that once before, but… Why would I want you to be like that?” Vlad said.

“I mean… Don’t you…” Danny’s head was spinning. It had seemed so obvious; Vlad made Junior because he wanted a version of Danny that would adore him, unconditionally. Of course that was it, what else could it be? He’d never even thought to question it.

But Junior was a crybaby, he was soft and clingy and helpless, he could see the missing parts of himself just enough to be hurt by them; why _would_ Vlad want a son like that?

“Why the fuck did you make him like that, then!?” Danny snapped, grabbing Vlad by the lapels. “He’s a mess, why would you _do_ that to someone!?”

Vlad stared at him, eyes wide and mouth set, before taking him by the wrists and pushing him back. “Daniel, my major was biochemistry, with a postgraduate focus on genetic engineering.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I’m _not_. Earlier this year, a number of cloned human embryos were successfully developed to the blastocyst stage before being destroyed as part of the research process. This is as far as human cloning has progressed in the mainstream scientific community.”

Danny sighed through his teeth. “Can you just cut to the fucking chase for _once?_ ”

“This is context, boy, it’s important,” Vlad said. “The Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, taking thirteen years and twenty research organizations internationally, and even with it mapped we have basically no idea how personality is affected by genes.”

The awful light of understanding was slowly starting to dawn.

“And that’s the _human_ genome,” Vlad continued. “I’ve spent the last few decades doing research on spectral DNA, and to put it in a way even a thickheaded boy like you can understand, it is much, _much_ more complicated. To say nothing of the issues that crop up when using ghostly technology that even its inventor barely understands to make a carbon-copy that shares your memories, rather than a simple genetic clone. Do you see where I’m going with this, Daniel?”

“...you didn’t make Junior like that,” Danny said, his own voice sounding distant in his ears.

“Bravo, well done,” Vlad said, golf-clapping. “As flattered as I am that you think I’m the kind of genius who can custom design the personality of clones to such a fine degree, it is simply not possible.”

“Then...why? Why is he...like that?”

Vlad shrugged. “For the same reason Danielle was female, I imagine. Irregularities. Flaws in the process. Junior might be stable, but he’s far from a perfect copy.”

Danny was reeling, staring blankly at his hands, barely even noticing when Vlad wrapped an arm around his shoulders. It was an accident. It was all just a stupid accident. When he’d thought it was Vlad’s fault, that had been easier, somehow; that way, there was someone to blame for being so childish as to custom design him and then lose interest. But this way, there wasn’t even a reason why he was so broken.

“Fuck,” Danny muttered, letting Vlad pull him to his chest. “That’s so stupid, that’s so unfair…!”

“It is, isn’t it?” Vlad said, stroking his hair.

“No, wait a sec, wait just a sec,” Danny said, shoving him away. “Why the hell is he so crazy for you, then?”

“You think I know the answers to these things,” Vlad sighed. “I have two working theories. The first is that he imprinted on me like a baby duckling.”

“A baby duckling that wants your dick.”

“The _second_ ,” Vlad continued, rolling his eyes, “is that it’s a result of the input data.”

Danny blinked. “Huh?”

“You wanted me,” Vlad said, eyes fixed on Danny’s. “Junior is just that desire magnified.”

For a moment, Danny was so blindsided that he couldn’t even reply. “...you narcissistic piece of shit,” he laughed, fingers digging through the leather seat. “It’s like you can’t even imagine a world where everyone isn’t dying to be fucked by you.”

“You know that’s not it,” Vlad said, leaning in closer, hair falling loose around his face, eyes shadowed and bedroomy, fingers brushing over Danny’s cheek, his lips. “If anything, you’re the one in denial, my sweet.”

Danny was paralyzed, eyes locked on Vlad’s as he drew near, before shoving the man down onto his back and straddling him and wrapping his hands around his throat. “You fucking…you delusional egotistical abusive manipulative _freak…_ ”

“Down, boy,” Vlad snapped, “before I take your limbs away and throw you back in the basement to learn some manners.”

It would be easy. These hands were so strong, he wouldn’t even have to choke him, he could just crush his neck into a pulp. Vlad wouldn’t have time to stop him. Sure, they were in the back of his limo, but the driver would know better than to try anything if he saw Danny covered in blood, prosthetics gleaming dark. It would be so easy.

Danny let go, pushed himself back as far away as he could, shaking. He wasn’t supposed to imagine things like that; he was supposed to be a hero. “I hate you,” he muttered as Vlad sat up, neatening his suit.

“I know,” the man replied, nothing in his voice but resignation.

The rest of the drive was silence.

 

* * *

 

“Oh, you’re back!” Junior said, jumping up from his seat in the entranceway as soon as the front door opened, face falling when he saw Danny and Vlad. “...were you fighting again?”

“No,” they both said at once. From the ‘are they gonna get a divorce’ look on Junior’s face, he did not believe them.

“And how was your evening, dear?” Vlad asked. “Did you practice your scales like I asked?”

“Yup! For a half-hour.”

Vlad gave him a quick kiss and tousled his hair. “That’s my boy.”

Junior blushed and smiled, clinging to his arm as they walked. “How about you, Danny?” he asked. “Was it nice seeing your folks again?”

“It was...weird. I guess so, though.”

“Yeah… I’m kinda glad I don’t have to go anymore, honestly,” Junior said with an awkward laugh. “...they never wanted me there anyways.”

Poor kid. His only family was a dad he was in love with and another dad who was also his brother. Both of whom had sex with him. So basically, worse than nothing.

“Are we going to bed?” Junior asked, cozying up closer to Vlad.

“Not tonight, pet, I’m tired,” Vlad sighed.

Junior looked up him, hair a mess even back in its ponytail, then at Danny, red marks barely visible at his collar. “...you did it on the way back, huh.”

“Just a jerk and a suck,” Danny muttered.

“I’ll give you all the attention you want tomorrow, so settle for Daniel, won’t you?” Vlad said. “Honestly, I can’t keep up with the two of you.”

“Bit off more you than you could chew with the teen boy harem, old man?” Danny laughed.

Vlad kicked him, wincing in pain as his foot connected with metal. Served him right.

“At least touch me?” Junior said, already visibly hard in his pajamas. “I was good, wasn’t I? And I’ve been waiting…”

“...oh, alright,” Vlad said, sighing again. “Come along, then.”

Danny and Junior had their own rooms, of course. Complete with nice big comfy beds they’d never be allowed to spend the night in. Vlad liked to keep his toys close. So while the man was busy humoring Junior, Danny stripped down to his boxers, climbing into bed on the other side and sticking a pillow over his head to muffle the noises. It didn’t help much.

Junior sure did trail after Vlad like a horny little duckling, didn’t he. So that made sense. Maybe that’s all it was; Vlad must have been the only person he saw for weeks, after all, and the fact that he wanted to get dicked down by him could just be teenage hormones without any other outlet. That had to be it, right? The other theory was just… Danny didn’t wanna think about the other theory.

“Aaahh, Vlaaaaad…!” Junior moaned behind him. At least he had the decency to be quick about it.

“Satisfied?” Vlad asked.

“...I guess.”

“Good.”

The pillow was taken off Danny’s head and his prosthetics were removed and put aside by Vlad before he was pulled up against his naked body. Danny on one side and Junior on the other, just the way the man liked it.

“I love you, Vlad,” Junior mumbled sleepily.

“Yes, yes, I love you too, little badger,” Vlad replied.

Danny rolled his eyes and let himself drift off.

 

* * *

 

Danny had just dragged himself out of bed and down to the kitchen, pouring himself a bowl of cereal and shoving it mechanically into his mouth, when Vlad strode past the doorway, stopping and doubling back. “Oh good, I was just about to go wake you up,” he said. “Honestly, Daniel, these hours you keep…”

“Not my fault I’m not an early bird,” Danny muttered.

“You _used_ to be one.”

“Til _someone_ locked me in his basement and screwed up my internal clock, yeah.”

“ _In any case_ ,” Vlad said through gritted teeth, “I’ve got a meeting and I’ll be out all day, so you and Junior practice your duet. And make sure he does his homework.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“Daniel…” Vlad said, eyebrow twitching.

Danny rolled his eyes. “I’ll do it, alright? Jeez.”

Vlad frowned at him for a moment more before glancing at his watch, sighing and rushing out. “You’d better practice!”

Danny finished his cereal.

He was halfway through a level of Ninja Deathmatch 6 when the door opened and Junior slipped in. “Oh hey Jun,” Danny said, not taking his eyes off the screen. “We can do multiplayer when I reach a save point, gimme just a sec…”

“I mean yeah, save first, but Vlad said to practice,” Junior said, sitting down next to him. “He said he was gonna tell you before he left.”

“No, he did,” Danny said. “But consider: I fucking hate piano. And I’m almost at the Shaolin Temple, everyone says that’s the best part.”

“It _is_ good!” Junior said, leaning forward. “The fight against the giant statue where you have to keep jumping up the platforms is kinda copying that one from 3, but it’s done so much better here, and…” He trailed off, sitting back down, staring at his hands. “We need to practice, though.”

Danny sighed, pausing the game. “Junior. I _know_ you hate violin, so let’s just not and say we did, alright? We can do the Temple on co-op, it’ll be great.”

“...I don’t mind it,” Junior said.

“ _I’d_ hate it. Probably even more than piano. You can’t tell me you like practicing.”

“I don’t, but…” He turned away, pulling his knees up to his chest. “I like playing for Vlad.”

Danny buried his face in his hands. Junior might be a nice kid, but boy howdy did he get tiring. “ _You_ practice then, but don’t drag me into it.”

“I can’t practice a duet alone.”

“Of course you can!” Danny groaned. “You practice your part! I play video games! Vlad comes home and we tell him we were good boys and did what he said!”

“You know I can’t lie to him!” Junior said, already starting to tear up, because of course he was. “I’m sorry, I mean it, but I can’t help it, so please…”

Something inside Danny snapped. “Stop using that as a excuse.”

Junior jerked back, eyes wide. “What’re you… It’s not an _excuse_ , I _can’t!_ I didn’t ask to be made like this!”

“Yeah, well, neither did Vlad.” He hadn’t been planning on telling Junior. There was no point, it would just hurt him even more. “You’re not what he wanted me to be, or his perfect son, or anything he did on purpose. You know what you are? You’re a mistake.”

Danny watched, head in his hand, as Junior cried, tears rolling down his face and teeth gritted to keep from sobbing. “Liar,” he finally choked out.

“I’m not. You know I’m not.” Danny could feel the nausea rising in his gut and he knew he’d regret the words as soon as they left his mouth. “I mean, why the fuck would he want someone like you?”

Junior froze, eyes wide, color draining from his face, not even breathing. Danny expected that any second he’d crumble, burst into tears, but he didn’t. He just sat there, staring at nothing, looking more dead than when he was a ghost.

“...god, Jun, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” Danny said, putting a hand on his shoulder, then pulling him into a hug. He didn’t respond. “I was just… It’s not true, okay? You were right, I was lying, I was just annoyed and said something dumb, so just forget about it, alright? Let’s go practice. I won’t be an jerk about it anymore, I promise, so…”

“I’m not stupid,” Junior said quietly. “I know you both think I am, but I’m not.”

“I’m telling you, it was just a dumb lie, so can you please just…”

Mechanically, Junior pushed himself free of Danny’s arms, pulled out his phone, hit a number on speed dial. “...it went to voicemail.”

“He’s in a meeting.”

Junior tried calling again, then again, tears running down his face and dripping from his chin onto the screen. He didn’t resist as Danny pulled him into his arms again, lying down face to face on the couch, stroking his hair.

Danny felt sick. He’d known he would. He might not have thought it’d be quite this bad, but he knew Junior wouldn’t take it well and he said it anyways.

Christ, what the fuck was _wrong_ with him!? He was supposed to be taking care of Junior, his little brother, not lashing out at him for literally no reason! Should’ve just kept his mouth shut. He _knew_ he should’ve. “I’m sorry,” he said, holding him closer, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it, you know he loves you, right? Of course he does.”

Nothing.

 

* * *

 

It must have been hours later that Danny was snapped out of his daze by the sound of footsteps. “My my, don’t you two look cozy,” Vlad said, smirking down at them, one eyebrow cocked. “Don’t tell me you’ve been cuddled up here this whole time.”

Junior pushed Danny away and sat up, staring at Vlad with the same vacant, heartbroken expression he’d had this entire time. “Do you love me?” he said, voice soft and shaky. “Am I just a nuisance?”

Vlad blinked, taken aback. “...Daniel, what kind of nonsense have you been filling his head with?” he said, glaring at him.

“...I said something stupid about him being a mistake cause you wouldn’t want a son like him,” Danny said, staring at the floor. “I apologized right away, but…”

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Junior said, tears rolling down his expressionless face.

Vlad sighed, stepping forward to sit down on the couch and pull Junior into his lap, holding him to his chest and stroking his hair. “Of course I love you, dearest, what a silly idea,” he said, staring daggers at Danny over his head. “You couldn’t possibly be a nuisance, you’re my precious boy; you know that, don’t you?”

He tilted Junior’s face up to kiss him and the boy melted into his arms, clinging tight to the back of his suit, sniffling even as they kissed until finally he burst into tears, burying his face in Vlad’s chest as he sobbed. “There there, it’s alright, go ahead and let it out,” Vlad said, stroking his back, still giving Danny his best ‘we are going to have words about this’ glare.

Danny was not looking forward to that conversation. Even if he deserved it.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Junior’s sobs quieted to weak hiccups and sniffles. “Are you feeling better now, my sweet?” Vlad asked.

A tiny nod.

“Do you want to go to bed?”

Another nod.

Vlad picked Junior up, kissed him, headed for the door, stopping and jerking his head for Danny to follow when he saw he hadn’t moved from the couch. With a sigh, Danny trailed after them. It was probably some kind of punishment, wasn’t it. ‘If I have to sit through this, then so do you.'

He curled up in bed with his back to them and a pillow over his head, but he could still hear Junior moaning Vlad’s name again and again, Vlad murmuring soft praise. Danny was getting hard, listening to it. It made him feel even worse than he already did, but he was fifteen and someone with his voice was getting fucked right next to him; of course he was getting hard. Biting the edge of the sheet to keep quiet, he jerked off, wanting to hurry up and come already so his stupid body would stop doing this.

He came when Junior did, crying out “Vlad…!” in a voice that was almost a sob. Danny caught his breath, staring at the wall, as the noises continued a little while longer, before finally Vlad moaned “Junior…” in a tone Danny really wished he didn’t recognize so well. There was cum on his hand. He felt sick.

Vlad helped him remove his prosthetics, but instead of holding him like he usually did, he turned his back and spooned Junior. And it wasn’t like Danny had ever _wanted_ his abuser to cuddle him like a stuffed animal. But as Vlad and Junior’s breath both became deep and even while Danny stared at the ceiling, sleepless, he had to admit he missed it. As much as the thought sickened him, it was kinda cozy; the warmth of skin, the soft sound of breath, the rhythm of his pulse.

The night crawled on, the glowing red numbers of the alarm clock ticking over from late to early, and finally Danny gave up. He moved to press himself up against Vlad’s back, breathing in the too-familiar smell of sweat and cologne.

Vlad shifted in his sleep, turning onto his back and pulling Danny close, and it was awful how much of a relief it was. He leaned in closer, resting his head on Vlad’s chest, and drifted off to the steady sound of his heartbeat, happy not to think of anything for a while.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Danny woke up the next morning, he could feel the blade over his neck. Vlad was going to take him to task for telling Junior, and it was going to be awful because having _talks_ with Vlad was always awful, and every moment that passed was just delaying the inevitable. He was alone in bed, which was normal; he was a late riser. But even when he went downstairs and had breakfast, showered, brushed his teeth, Danny didn’t see anyone. That wasn’t so unusual either, come to think of it. Sometimes he’d go the better part of a day without running into Vlad or Junior, since the only times he was obligated to get together with them were dinner and bedtime. It was just that he’d been expecting Vlad to get on his case bright and early. That would’ve been better; hurry up and pull the bandaid off, get it over with. But this way, all he could do was wait.

He’d just sat down to finish the Ninja Deathmatch level he’d left half finished when his phone buzzed. Vlad telling him to come to his office. Of course, perfect timing, should’ve known. Sighing and pausing the game again, Danny heaved himself up from the couch and went.

“I was wondering how long you were gonna wait,” he muttered, letting himself in and closing the door behind him, standing in front of Vlad’s desk with arms crossed.

“Junior’s in his lessons now,” Vlad said, lounging in his stupid throne-chair. “I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t interrupt us.”

“Yeah, well, let’s hurry up and get this over with, then.”

“Daniel, what on earth possessed you to tell Junior that he’s an imperfect copy?” Vlad said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What imbecilic excuse for logic could possibly have been going through your mind that you wanted to let that particular cat out of the bag?”

“What do you care anyways?” Danny snapped. He might feel awful about it, but he couldn’t help but argue when Vlad was talking like that. “Since when do you give a shit about him?”

“I had to spend the better part of last night talking him down from a catatonic state, if you’ll recall!” Vlad replied. “He’s been clinging to me all morning, too; he wouldn’t leave me alone until he had to do his lessons.”

“If you hate taking care of him so much, why not just off him like the rest of the clones?”

Vlad’s eye twitched. “...I did not _off_ anyone, they were unstable and dematerialized on their own.”

“Saved you the trouble, then.”

“I don’t know what kind of a monster you think I am, brat, but I am not going to kill an innocent boy who only wants me to love him just because he’s an inconvenience!” Vlad said, slamming the desk with a fist.

“Bullshit,” Danny snapped. “You are absolutely the type to do that. You almost did with Dani.”

“I did _not_ ,” Vlad said through gritted teeth.

“Which means you still have a reason to keep Jun around,” Danny said, mouth starting to twist into a smirk. “Oh, I know, I get it now, it’s cause _I’d_ leave if he wasn’t here, huh? And of course you couldn’t have _that_.”

Vlad didn’t reply, brow furrowed and mouth tight and face flushed with the embarrassment of being caught out. He was so obvious.

“Jeez, do you even know how pathetic that is?” Danny laughed, leaning over the desk. “You’re like a girl who gets herself knocked up so her boyfriend has to marry her! That’s so desperate!”

Vlad grabbed him by the throat and slammed him down in front of him. “You shut your mouth right now, boy,” he hissed, eyes cold.

Danny’s ears were ringing from where he’d hit his head and he could barely breathe and he knew Vlad would do even worse if he kept going. “No wonder my mom chose him over you.”

Danny’s hands clamped over his mouth so hard it hurt. He hadn’t moved. His arms had moved on their own, muffling his protests, and now his legs were moving too, kicking up onto the desk and facing him towards Vlad.

“What, you didn’t expect I’d give you limbs I couldn’t take control of, did you?” Vlad drawled, staring down at him, a shadow backlit by the window. “How naive.”

Danny was struggling in earnest now, body contorting against his limbs, trying to get them to obey him again, to shake them off, _something_ , helpless as his arms reached behind him to grab the edge of the desk and his legs spread. He managed to jerk them closed, but then his ankles rotated sickeningly and his feet jammed themselves into the front of the desk to keep them open. It didn’t hurt. It felt like every bone that should have been there had been crushed into scraping grit, but it didn’t hurt. He thought he might vomit.

“Why are you always like this, Daniel?” Vlad said, pulling scissors from somewhere and cutting off his pants and underwear. “You constantly lash out at everyone around you, as though you don’t know it’ll only make things worse. Why must you be so childish?”

“I’m _fifteen_ , you sicko!” Danny managed to get out. He knew where this was going, it was Vlad, there was only one place it could possibly have gone ever since he walked in the door, and he thought he’d been raped by him enough times that it didn’t bother him anymore, but apparently he’d been wrong. “Of course I’m gonna be childish, I’m a _kid!_ ”

“Why are you incapable of just doing what you’re told!?” Vlad said, forcing two slick fingers inside Danny and working them until he cried out from pain as much as pleasure. “It would be so much easier for all of us! _You’re_ the one making everyone miserable, yourself included!”

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” Danny snapped, struggling uselessly against his own frozen limbs and the hand inside him. “ _I’m_ the one? I didn’t make Junior! I didn’t kidnap myself! I never wanted any of this!”

Vlad kissed him.

Danny was frozen, eyes wide, as Vlad caressed the nape of his neck, tongue pushing between his lips, deep and tender and, yes, loving. He was still frozen as Vlad pulled back to kiss the base of his jaw, his collarbones, fingers still moving inside him, but gently now.

Vlad didn’t need to say it. Danny knew perfectly well what he meant.

_You wanted me._

Danny was a fifteen-year-old boy, he jerked off to just about everything. Fantasizing about Ember hypnotizing him to be her fucktoy, or Dash and Kwan spitroasting him in the locker room, or Skulker keeping him as a pet—none of that meant he actually wanted any of those things to happen.

Masturbating to pictures of Vlad didn’t mean he wanted Vlad.

Danny didn’t move as Vlad kissed and readied him. Sure, whatever, why not. If it was gonna happen anyways, might as well let him be gentle. Save himself the pain. His feet pulled out of the desk with a wooden crunch and rotated back around the right way, and Danny didn’t close his legs.

Vlad was wrong. None of this was Danny’s fault, he was just trying to pin the blame on him because that’s what people like him did. Vlad was the bad guy here. Danny _knew_ that.

Vlad pulled his fingers out and pressed his cock up against him, and all Danny did was cling to him and moan as he pushed inside. It didn’t hurt as much as usual. He was never usually this gentle. Danny didn’t usually let him be.

He held him tight with arms and legs as Vlad thrust, slow and deep, hitting him just right. He must have had lots of practice on Junior; he probably knew every inch of Danny’s body better than he knew it himself. He probably knew how to make him feel amazing.

“Harder,” he breathed, before he could stop himself. He wanted to feel so good he forgot, just for a moment, how much he hated this.

“Daniel, my Daniel…” Vlad murmured as he sped up, hands tight around Danny’s hips, hair falling out of its ponytail. “You’re so perfect…”

Danny didn’t want to hear it. He reached between them to wrap a hand around himself, jerking off in time with Vlad’s motions, drawing closer and closer to orgasm as Vlad played his body like an instrument.

He came when Vlad kissed him again, moaning into his mouth, feeling his own cum hot against his stomach and then Vlad’s hot inside him, body shivering with pleasure as he rode it out. He’d never felt so good before. He wished, just a little, that he was dead.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Vlad murmured as he pulled out, settling into his armchair with Danny curled up on his lap, stroking his hair.

“Mm.”

“I love you, Daniel,” he said, the first time he’d said anything like that to him. “Why won’t you let me?”

Danny didn’t reply.

There must have been a point where everything went wrong, where if he’d just done something slightly different, he could have prevented all of this from happening, and he’d still be going to school and hanging out with his friends and living with his family like a normal kid.

Or maybe there wasn’t, and no matter what he did, he always would have ended up here.

That was a nice thought. It took the blame off him.

“I’m tired,” he finally said. “I wanna go back to bed.”

“Of course, dearest,” Vlad said. “I’ll bring dinner up for you later.”

Danny dazedly let Vlad carry him to bed (Vlad’s bed, of course), take off his limbs, tuck him in. “Sleep well, little badger,” he said, giving him a soft kiss before leaving.

His body felt heavy and spent, but pleasantly so, without any of the sharp aches that he’d come to associate with sex. It was weird. He wasn’t sure he liked it. Sex wasn’t something he should enjoy.

Danny didn’t sleep, just stared at the wall.

There had been moments.

He’d been in the basement for months, and Vlad had come to visit him every day. He’d hated it at first, naturally, spent the whole time screaming at him. Then he sulked, refusing to look at him or say a word until he left. Vlad had taken this in stride. He’d put on movies, things he chose because he thought Danny would enjoy them, and watch them with him, and comment now and then. Danny started replying, after a while. He couldn’t help it.

Danny found himself impatient, anticipating, counting down the hours before he ever realized what he was waiting for, because what else did he have to mark time in that suffocating little room? Vlad would sit next to him, never doing anything but _look_ at him in a way that made Danny’s touch-starved body ache. He wouldn’t even have to say anything. All he’d have to do was lean over and close the gap between them.

So yes, there had been moments.

The night Danny had surrendered had been so long coming that it was almost a relief to let Vlad tear him apart. It felt right. It felt like what he deserved.

_You wanted me._

He wanted him.

 

* * *

 

Danny was quiet after that. He could feel something inside him pulled taut, stretched nearly to breaking. Just like all the days he’d sat next to Vlad and stared at the man’s hands and struggled not to think about what they could do to him.

Maybe he meant it, some stupid part of him kept thinking. Maybe Vlad really did love him. Maybe that had any meaning at all.

Maybe he’d been right when he said it was all Danny’s fault that everyone was so miserable.

It was a few days later that Junior found him up in the observatory, staring through the telescope at the stars. “Hi Danny.”

“Hi Jun.” They hadn’t talked since Danny made that stupid mistake, not really. “...I’m sorry.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Junior said with an awkward laugh, sitting down on the loveseat. “I’d rather know, I guess.”

“Not just that, sorry for...y’know. Everything,” Danny said, sitting down next to him. “It’s my fault you’re here in the first place.”

He could feel Junior’s eyes on him before the clone spoke. “...I dunno if you’ll believe me, but I’m not unhappy to be here. I like being alive.” He laughed again, the same clueless laugh. “Stupid, huh?”

“No, that’s...nice to hear,” Danny said, staring at his feet. “I want you to be happy.”

“I want you to be happy too,” Junior said, leaning against him, resting his head on Danny’s shoulder. “I mean, you’re my big brother. I love you. It hurts to see you so miserable all the time, y’know?”

“Yeah, I love you too, kiddo,” Danny said, reaching up to tousle Junior’s hair. “...sorry.”

“Stop apologizing.”

“Yeah.” They stayed there for a moment, quietly leaning against each other in the little tower room. “What do you think I should do?”

“About what?”

“About...everything. Being here with you and Vlad.”

“...I mean...what choices do you have?”

Danny froze, collapsing over against Junior with a groan. “Fuck, Jun, I don’t know!”

He could leave, and leave his little brother in Vlad’s hands.

He could keep going like he was now, until he reached a point where he’d genuinely rather die, and did.

Or he could give in.

Sometimes he envied Junior. He might be broken, but it was so easy for him. He never had to wonder what to do, because there was only ever one thing he _could_ do.

Danny wondered if he could break himself like that too. Just enough that he could live like this.

“I told you, I want you to be happy,” Junior said, hugging him, petting his hair like he’d pet Junior’s. “You and Vlad. So I think you should do whatever lets that happen.”

“And what if we can’t both be happy?” Danny asked before he could stop himself. “What if you had to choose?”

“...you don’t want me to answer that question.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I shouldn’t have asked. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Danny squeezed Junior tight one last time before standing. “Vlad told you to come get me for bed, right?”

“...yeah,” the clone said, eyes on the floor as he stood.

“C’mon Jun, don’t look like that,” Danny said, giving him a clap on the shoulder and taking him by the hand, pulling him down the spiral stairs. “...I don’t mind, anyways.”

Vlad was already waiting for them in bed, hair down and naked. “ _There_ you are!” he said, putting his PDA aside as Danny closed the bedroom door behind him. “Whatever took you so long?”

Danny didn’t reply, just climbed onto the bed and took Vlad by the shoulders and kissed him. He could hear Junior’s soft gasp behind him, feel Vlad tense beneath his hands before relaxing and embracing Danny, deepening the kiss. He began to undress, starting with his pants so he didn’t have to stop kissing Vlad, because if he did he wasn’t sure he’d be able to start again. Or maybe he just _hoped_ he wouldn’t be able to, the same way he’d expected something to stop him from going into Vlad’s arms willingly. It didn’t feel right. Everything about this was wrong but it was so easy, and natural, and _nice_ , and that just made it so much worse.

“Why, what’s gotten into you, love?” Vlad murmured, lips moving against Danny’s. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you and Junior swapped places.”

“...I’m sick of fighting,” Danny replied, so quiet he could barely hear it himself. “I’ll be good, so…” He didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

Of course Vlad didn’t care. He was pulling Danny’s shirt off and kissing down his neck, kissing his chest, letting out soft little moans like _he_ was the one being teased. “You too, my pet,” he said, gesturing for Junior to join them as he shifted Danny to one side.  

Junior blinked once, twice, then nodded, clothes tangling in his haste to strip, snuggling up on Vlad’s other side and kissing him.

Even as he kissed Junior, the man’s long, slim fingers were stroking up and down Danny’s side, toying with his chest and his nipples, making him blush and squirm and get hard. It felt _good_. No one had ever touched him like that before. Danny let himself lean into Vlad’s chest, lips brushing his skin, and then he was shifting to kiss the hollows of his collarbone, his throat, the base of his jaw, running his hands over his skin the same way Vlad was caressing him.

“You sweet creature,” Vlad said, turning to kiss Danny, moaning into his mouth as the boy took him in hand and began to stroke. This was… Fuck, he almost felt like he had some _control_ , like for once he just wasn’t being raped, and it was absolutely intoxicating. He felt Junior’s hand layer over his, fingers lacing together, Vlad twitching in his grip and turning to kiss the clone. Danny couldn’t even stop himself from rutting up against the man’s hip, tangling their shaky legs together. Junior was doing the same on Vlad’s other side, kissing him and touching him and clinging to him, and for maybe the first time Danny thought he could understand why his clone got so worked up.

“Here, let me take care of you,” Vlad murmured, wetting fingers in his mouth and reaching down to tease Junior, drawing desperate needy moans from him. “Don’t tell me you’re going to come already, you lascivious boy…”

“...Vlad…” Danny said, rutting up against him harder.

“What’s this now?” Vlad purred, running a hand down his back and over his ass, marking Danny’s breath catch at the touch against his oversensitive skin. “Shall I pleasure you too, Daniel?”

He was asking. He’d never _asked_ before, he’d always just done whatever he felt like and if Danny didn’t want it, he forced him. Maybe this was the same, and if he said no Vlad would just laugh and do something worse.

“...yeah,” Danny breathed, because this way he wouldn’t have to find out.

Vlad kissed him once, hard, before slipping fingers into his mouth. “That’s my boy,” he said as Danny sucked and licked, coating them in saliva, waiting until Danny pulled back to wrap his arm back around the boy’s waist and tease at his hole. “Now how does that feel?”

Danny couldn’t have gotten an answer out if he wanted to. He was moaning and squirming against Vlad, tightening his grip on the man’s cock, getting closer and closer to coming as he was fondled and kissed and caressed. The heat of skin against skin was dizzying, every touch making it harder to think straight, to remember why this was something he didn’t want when Vlad was being so gentle, making him feel so good.

Junior came first with a moan of “Vlad…” that was cut off when the man kissed him, hand tightening against Danny’s as he was worked through his orgasm, finally sprawling dazed and panting over Vlad’s chest, face flushed and eyes barely open.

“You did so well, little badger, Father’s so pleased with you,” the man murmured before kissing Junior again.

Danny came at that, hips jerking for friction as he tried to muffle his cry against Vlad’s chest, only to have the man take him by the chin and kiss him. He was coming and Vlad’s thumb was stroking his face and Vlad’s legs were tangled up with his and Vlad’s fingers kept teasing and caressing him like all he wanted was to make Danny feel good.

“Now wasn’t that nice?” he said, pulling back to smile at Danny as the tension of orgasm left his body. “My dear boy, my Daniel…”

Junior was already shifting to face Vlad’s erection, licking up the shaft and sucking the tip, and Danny joined him without needing to be asked. They worked him together just like they had so many times before, only that the hand in Danny’s hair was stroking instead of knotting and instead of pretending he was anywhere else he kept glancing up to see Vlad blushing and gasping and biting his lip. It was hot; no, it was _sensual_. Vlad was usually so uptight but now he was going to pieces and it was because of Danny. And that was something like control, wasn’t it? It might be exactly what Vlad wanted from him, but at least Danny chose to do it, and maybe that was something.

Vlad came with a low, trembling groan, hand tightening in Danny’s hair as he spurted over his and Junior’s faces. Some of it got on Danny’s mouth. Reflexively, he licked it off, wiped the rest on the sheets, curled up against Vlad as the man caught his breath, Junior at his other side. He’d joked about a harem before, but that’s what they were. Masters’ boys, their master’s playthings.

“You’re so good,” the man sighed, kissing Junior and then Danny in turn, holding them closer. “Both of you.”

Danny was in a daze as Vlad pulled the covers up over the three of them, sinking into the warmth of touch and afterglow. This was fine. This was nice, this was easy, this was so much easier and so much less painful than continuing to fight just for the sake of fighting. Not when he’d already lost.

“Good night, my darlings,” Vlad said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” came Junior’s soft reply.

“...love you,” Danny murmured. He didn’t mean it, not yet, but he’d _make_ himself mean it if it was the only way to keep himself and his brother from being miserable. He owed Junior that much. All he had left to lose was his self-respect, and that was a fucking joke.

Vlad and Junior both started at his words, two sets of blue eyes blinking in the dark. Then Vlad kissed him, tenderly. “I knew you would.”

This was fine.

This would have to be fine, because there wasn’t anything else Danny could do.


	3. The Master of the House

Danny went to a Packers game with Vlad.

He hadn’t even needed to be asked; when Vlad mentioned he was going, Danny just asked if he could come along with the same hollow-eyed smile he always seemed to have lately. Vlad picked out an outfit for him, a dress shirt and tie and cardigan, and Danny wore it without complaining. He leaned up against him during the drive there, even climbed onto his lap. He actually watched the game, instead of spending the whole time on his DS. And on the drive back, Danny got down on the floor between Vlad’s legs and started undoing his fly before the man pushed him back with a hand to the shoulder.

“You don’t want me to?” Danny asked, looking up at him.

“...do _you_ want to?”

“I wanna do whatever you want,” the boy said. It was the sort of thing Junior said all the time, but instead of the clone’s shy smile and soft blush, Danny was completely empty behind the eyes. They might all be half-dead, but he really did look it.

“Come sit back up,” Vlad said, patting the seat next to him.

Danny obeyed, folding his hands neatly in his lap and staring at the floor.

 

* * *

 

Vlad had won, he supposed. This was winning. Danny Phantom at his beck and call, his loyal, obedient son, without any of Junior’s desperate clingy softness. He’d gotten what he wanted, and all it took was breaking him, physically and mentally, beyond all recognition.

When he first abducted Danny, locked him up, cut off his limbs, he knew he was doing something that couldn’t be undone, and he’d have to make the boy his or kill him. A desperate act of a desperate man. But for a while, he thought it had been worth it; he had a new Daniel, one who wanted nothing more than to be by his side and make him happy, who would do anything for him. No one had ever loved him like that before. It was intoxicating.

He hadn’t intended for the boy to be his lover when he first made him, of course not, he wasn’t that kind of man. He’d wanted a son and an ally, that was all. But the first night he was there, the clone Danny came into his room saying he didn’t want to sleep alone and curled up with him, head buried in the crook of his neck, body slim and soft and warm against his. It was the first time he’d shared a bed with anyone in longer than he’d care to recall. The boy would shift against him in his sleep, make soft little moans and whimpers, mumble his name, and Vlad couldn’t help but imagine. He might call him his son, but he wasn’t, not really, so surely it would be alright. He was a hormonal teenager, and he adored him so much, surely he wouldn’t mind. Yes, surely he wanted it; why else would he come into his bed night after night? The original had wanted it. That had been clear enough from what he’d caught on the cameras.

Then one night he felt the sleeping boy getting hard against his stomach, and his curiosity finally got the better of him.

Gently, so as not to wake him, Vlad extracted himself from Danny’s arms, leaning back to watch his face in the dark as he touched him through his pajamas. The clone was going to pieces under his hand, blushing and gasping, brows furrowing, hips jerking in search of friction. Vlad couldn’t help but get aroused himself, just watching. He had unbuttoned the boy’s pajama shirt and was trying to pull it off when Danny’s eyes opened.

For a moment they just stared at each other; Vlad hard in his briefs and in the process of undressing Danny, Danny blushing and breathing heavy from Vlad’s touches. “...Father…?” he mumbled, blinking sleepily at Vlad, then down at his own body. “What’re you…”

“You love me, don’t you, Daniel?” Vlad murmured, caressing the boy’s face, running a thumb over his lips.

“I… Of course I do, but… You’re my…”

“You’re _mine_ ,” Vlad said, forehead to forehead, drawing a gasp from him as he stroked him through his clothes. “Isn’t this what you wanted, dearest? Coming into my bed, cozying up to me, getting aroused in my embrace... “

Danny was looking up at him with wide eyes, slowly shaking his head no even as his sex twitched against Vlad’s hand.

“Hush now, little badger, let Father make you feel good,” Vlad said, an incestous thrill racing down his spine at the words. “Let me give you what you want.”

Danny was tearing up as Vlad pulled his shirt off all the way, breath coming quick and shallow, unable to meet his eyes, so the man cupped his face in a hand and pressed their lips together. The boy’s were so warm and soft, melting under his, moans muffled as they kissed. When Vlad finally pulled back, Danny was flushed and panting, harder than ever against him. “That was my first kiss, Daniel,” he said softly, his own face warm. “I was saving it for someone I loved more than anyone else in the world.”

Danny’s breath caught, looking shyly up at him. “...really?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you, my sweet,” he said, kissing him again, and again and again. “We’ll share our first time together. Wouldn’t you like that?”

Danny was shy that first night, biting his knuckles to muffle his whimpers, tears rolling down his flushed face, clinging to Vlad so hard it almost hurt. Being inside him, though, was ecstasy. “You were so good,” Vlad murmured as he pulled out, head still spinning from what was by far the best orgasm of his life. He kissed Danny, stroked him gently until he came, holding the boy’s trembling, sweat-damp body in his arms and running a hand up and down his back, smoothing his mussed hair. “You’re a natural, I’m so pleased with you…”

Danny blushed and let Vlad tilt his face to kiss him.

He grew less bashful and more eager night by night, until he was cuddling up to Vlad in the limo and begging to suck him off, and it was more than he’d ever dared dream. So yes, for quite a while he didn’t regret what he’d done, not even when the boy in the basement screamed that he was a freak and a monster and he’d never, ever forgive him for what he’d done and neither would Maddie. Vlad would go back upstairs and his Daniel would be there to hold him and tell him how much he adored him.

Then Vlad had to go out of town for a few days on business and Danny begged him to take him along, and when he refused (he’d miss the companionship too, of course, but it would be absolutely impossible to explain), begged Vlad not to go at all. Which he refused as well, of course. At which point Danny broke down into messy, hyperventilating sobs, saying he couldn’t stand to be away from him that long and didn’t Vlad love him at all. Something that would have been unthinkable for the original Daniel Fenton.

Vlad went on his business trip, the clone still crying over how thoughtless he was being. As soon as Vlad came back home and apologized he was right back in his arms, of course, but now that it had been demonstrated in such dramatic fashion it was hard to ignore what a clingy crybaby he was. Playful insults his original would have slung back with a grin were met with tears. Crowds frightened him; just about everyone other than Vlad frightened him. It took over a month for him to let Vlad leave the room during his lessons. The one time Vlad brought him into the Ghost Zone, he got spooked and turned tail at the first ghost they saw, one his original would have been able to vaporize with both hands behind his back. And after the initial excitement of forty years of celibacy coming to an end wore off, Vlad was completely incapable of keeping up with the teenager’s apparently insatiable desire for sex. In short, this new Danny was rather more of a handful than Vlad had been hoping for.

That was when he started making more regular visits to the basement.

 

* * *

 

Vlad was in his study, replying to emails, when Junior slipped in, shutting the door softly behind him. “I know you said you didn’t wanna be bothered, but…”

Vlad sighed, pushing back his chair and patting his lap. “What is it, dear?” he asked as Junior sat down, head resting against his chest. As though he didn’t already know what this was about.

“...I’m worried about Danny.”

“Do you ever mind not being ‘Daniel’ anymore?” Vlad asked, toying with the boy’s ear. “Don’t you find it strange, calling someone else by the name that was yours?”

Junior gave him a look that could have meant anything. “...I like being Vlad Masters Junior.” Oh yes, that was what he’d settled on, wasn’t it. How typical. “I’m serious though, I’m really worried. Ever since, y’know, he’s been like...like a ghost.”

Vlad couldn’t suppress a dry chuckle at that, and Junior gave him the same strange look. “Have you tried asking him?”

“Course I have. He just says he’s fine, and isn’t this better than fighting all the time anyways.” Junior curled up a little on Vlad’s lap. “...he must think I’m stupid or something.”

And who could blame him, Vlad very pointedly did not say.

That wasn’t fair, though. It wasn’t that Junior was stupid, at least no more so than his original; he was just too broken to act rationally.

“And what exactly do you want me to do about it?” Vlad asked.

“I thought maybe if you were the one to tell him to stop… I mean, he’s doing all of this because he thinks it’s what you want, right?” Junior’s voice dropped so low Vlad could barely hear it. “...it’s not what you want, is it?”

“What if I told you it was?” Vlad asked. “What if this is exactly what I want from him?”

A moment of silence, Junior’s face turned away from Vlad. “...I know it isn’t, because if it was, you wouldn’t be acting like this.”

No, he wasn’t stupid at all, now was he.

Junior pushed himself off Vlad’s lap, turning back with one hand on the door, the same unreadable expression on his face. “...sorry to bother you.” Then he left.

If Vlad had to guess at the meaning of that look Junior always seemed to have, he might go with ‘if you weren’t my reason for living, I’d hate you.’ Poor thing. He could see every jagged edge and every void, but he still couldn’t do a thing about it. Sometimes Vlad wondered if the other clones, the ones that hadn’t lasted, had been the lucky ones. Junior’s body might be stable, but he was a failure in other ways.

Vlad left his office just in time to see the boy turn the corner at the end of the hallway. “Junior.” The clone turned back. “...I was wondering if you could play something for me.”

Junior blinked, blushing, mouth working as he tried to suppress a smile. “...I’ll go get my violin,” he said, rushing off.

Poor thing, too broken even to be unhappy.

 

* * *

 

Sometimes Vlad wondered what Maddie would think if she knew, before forcing the thought out of mind. It didn’t matter. She didn’t want him, she’d made that perfectly clear, and he wasn’t about to force her. He couldn’t. He still had too much affection and respect for the brilliant woman who had been the love of his life to do that to her.

That ruinous boy, though, he had no such hangups about.

He had never touched the original Danny, not even when he was unconscious on the operating table, not even when he went down to the basement to find him naked from the waist down, having come in his sleep and needing Vlad to get him a change of shorts, not even when they sat next to each other and the boy couldn’t stop himself from looking and Vlad knew he wouldn’t fight it, not really. He could have done anything he wanted to him at any time, but he didn’t; he never even said anything. He didn’t have to.

“Are you fucking him?” the boy in the basement had asked one day, eyes on the checkerboard between them.

“Yes.”

The boy looked up to meet his eyes. “Sicko,” he said, but Vlad could see how badly he wanted him to shove the board away and hold him down and force him so he didn’t have to admit he wanted it. But he wasn’t going to make it that easy; if he wanted him, he’d have to say so. He would, sooner or later. That was what Vlad was waiting for: surrender.

“It’s your move,” he murmured, eyes still locked on the boy’s.

“R-right,” the boy said, turning back to the board. “Right, yeah, it is.”

The game continued, and neither of them said anything more about it, but the air hung heavy between them.

 

* * *

 

Vlad could hear the piano faintly echoing through the halls. The same few bars over and over, complicated fingering repeated until it was smooth and error-free, and then moving on to the next phrase. It seemed like it was all Vlad heard these days, chiseling away at his ears until he wanted to take a sledgehammer to the accursed thing.

The dinner bell rang, and the piano stopped.

The three of them sat down at the table, Vlad at the head and his ‘sons’ to the left and right of him, and ate. Danny was staring at his plate, barely even blinking as he mechanically shoveled brussel sprouts into his mouth. He hated brussel sprouts. That was why Vlad had the cooks make them in the first place, because he knew Danny hated them and he was hoping he’d make a fuss about it like he always used to. Junior kept looking at Vlad like he was expecting him to say something.

What Vlad could possibly say in this scenario was beyond him.

“Danny…” Junior finally said, eyes flickering between the two of them, fidgeting with his fork.

“What is it, Jun?” Danny said, looking up with his usual hollow smile.

“...are…are you enjoying dinner…?”

“Uh-huh.”

Vlad was getting really tired of the way Junior was looking at him. “I have work to do,” he muttered, pushing his plate away and standing up. He’d barely eaten, but anything would be better than this. “Wait, Vlad…” he heard Junior say. Vlad didn’t turn around.

He’d been in his study for a few minutes, trying to distract himself with some silly word game on his PDA, when the doorknob rattled against the lock. “...Vlad…?”

“I told you, Junior, I have work.”

“...no you don’t.” A pause. “...please let me in? I can’t stand seeing you like this.”

Vlad sighed through his teeth. Maybe the problem with Junior is that he wasn’t stupid _enough_. “Oh, just come through the door.” The boy phased through, looking absolutely heartbroken. “I thought Daniel was the one about whom you were so concerned.”

“I’m worried about him too, of course I am, but…” Junior stepped around Vlad’s desk, hesitantly, standing there in front of him and fidgeting with his cardigan when Vlad refused to uncross his arms and let him fall into his embrace, as he so clearly wanted. “I _love_ you, Vlad, I love you so much, you’re everything to me and I want you to be happy more than anything else in the world, and I’m being totally serious when I say I can’t stand seeing you like this. It _hurts_.” He was biting at his lip, trying and failing to fight back tears. “Just… Just tell me what you want me to do, alright? I’ll do anything.”

He really meant it, Vlad knew he did, but the rush that would once have given him was gone. It was like having a dog obey, or a computer program. It didn’t mean anything because he didn’t have a choice, and it was just getting tiresome already. “Kill your brother.”

Junior’s eyes went wide. “W-what…?”

“You heard me,” Vlad said. “He’s the one getting in the way of us being happy together, isn’t he? Everything was so much better before you ever knew he existed. Don’t you want to go back to being my Daniel?”

Junior was shaking his head slowly, shoulders shaking and tears streaming down his face. “...you don’t want that.”

“You don’t get to tell me what I want,” Vlad snapped. “You said you’d do anything, didn’t you?”

Junior flinched, breath coming quick and shallow as he looked at him. “If you wanted to kill me,” he said softly, voice shaking, “I’d understand. But not him.”

Vlad wanted to break something. He hated his creation most when he was like this, so _selfless_ , so sweet and innocent and _good_ , with that look in his eyes that was almost pitying. It made Vlad want to hurt him, but he knew perfectly well that no matter what he did, the clone wouldn’t struggle or beg or fight. He would do his best to make sure his beloved father was pleased with him, in spite of his tears.

“Oh, forget it,” the man muttered, chair scraping as he stood, walking around his desk on the other side so he didn’t have to pass Junior. “I’m going to find Daniel. Don’t bother us.”

“...I’ll go to my room,” Junior said, following him out, shutting the study door silently behind him.

Danny was still in the dining room, eating the last few bites of his dinner. “Oh, you’re back,” he said, looking up at Vlad as he entered. “You should finish eating, it’s good.”

“Stop it,” he snapped. “I can’t stand this anymore, whatever point you were trying to prove is proven so just _stop_.”

Danny blinked, empty smile falling away. “Stop what?”

“You know perfectly well what I’m talking about, you ruinous brat,” Vlad said through gritted teeth. “Whatever you think you’re doing, acting like some kind of goody-two-shoes.”

“What, isn’t this what you wanted?” Danny said, expressionless. “You wanted me to be your obedient son, didn’t you? To do whatever you wanted and let you do whatever you wanted to me and never complain or fight back? For me to stop being such a brat so you, you could _love_ me?” The boy’s voice cracked, and Vlad could hear the chair splinter under his grip. “If this isn’t what you wanted then what _do_ you want, _father?_ ”

For a long moment Vlad just glared down at him, because he didn’t have an answer to that. He thought he’d wanted his own Daniel, a made-to-order facsimile, but that hadn’t been enough. He thought he’d wanted victory, the real Daniel helpless under his control, and then he thought he’d wanted obedience, and none of that had been enough either.

Some small, awful part of him was saying that he knew who he wanted and he’d lost her and everything he’d done since the moment he realized had been so much desperate flailing for anything to keep him going.

Vlad didn’t want it to be an act, or a compulsion. He just wanted someone to genuinely love him.

“I hate you,” Danny said, as though he knew exactly what was going through Vlad’s head. “I thought maybe I could force myself to love you if you were less of a piece of shit to me and Jun, but I guess that’s asking too much of you, huh? Can’t play nice for more than ten minutes and you call _me_ a brat.”

Vlad punched him, hard, the way he used to when they were Plasmius and Phantom, grabbing Danny by the throat and slamming him down through the table in a cacophony of shattering plates and cracking wood. He didn’t care that he was proving him right, he just wanted to _hurt_ him. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking, wanting that brat to be his. Vlad had been deceived; he’d seen Danny moaning his name on the cameras and thought it would be easy, that the boy would fall right into his arms and he’d never have to be alone again, and by the time he realized he’d been tricked it was already too late to turn back. He should have expected as much.

Danny uncoiled from where he was curled up on the floor to sweep Vlad’s legs out from under him, straddling his chest as he fell and punching him so hard the man thought his jaw might crack before Vlad had the presence of mind to shut off Danny’s prosthetics, leaving him staring down at him, still gasping for breath, absolute loathing writ large across his face. “If you want to break me so bad,” he said, “just _do_ it already. I thought I could do it myself but I can’t, so just hurry up and rewire me until I’m exactly what you want.” His shoulders were shaking and he looked _scared_ , more than Vlad had ever seen him, even when he first woke up in the mansion. “If you don’t. I swear to god I’m gonna kill you.”

“You wouldn’t, _hero_ ,” Vlad said, even managing to sound confident.

He wasn’t sure, though.

The one straddling him right now, looking like he’d tear his throat out with his bare hands if only Vlad turned them back on, wasn’t Danny Phantom, defender of Amity Park. He was just a… There were words for what he was, and Vlad didn’t want to think them because he didn’t want to think of himself as the kind of man who kept boys like that. But it would hardly be surprising if Danny decided he’d had enough of it.

Danny hated him, Vlad realized suddenly. He’d said it any number of times before, but it was only now that it finally hit with a visceral, suffocating pressure. Danny was always going to hate him.

Which meant Vlad was left with two choices. Either he did what Danny said, broke him until he was just like Junior, an automaton desperate for his love; or he left him as he was, and they stayed at each other’s throats until one day Danny couldn’t take it anymore.

Vlad was starting to realize he’d made a terrible mistake.

No, he was starting to admit it to himself.

He shoved Danny off him, limbs clanking uselessly against the floor, and straddled his face and shoved his cock in his mouth because he didn’t want to think about any of that. “I don’t need to warn you what’ll happen if you bite,” he said, knotting hands in his hair and thrusting down his throat. He’d missed this, god, he’d missed it, the helpless anger in Danny’s eyes, the thrill of _domination_. Vlad might want Danny to love him, but if he couldn’t have that, there was always this. He moved back to tear the boy’s shirt off, pull off his pants, detach his limbs and throw them aside until he was little more than a torso, naked and collared and furious and aroused.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever fucked you like this before,” Vlad said, lubing up fingers (when did he just start carrying lube around with him?) and forcing them inside him, making Danny grit his teeth not to cry out. “I don’t know why I waited so long; helplessness is a good look on you, brat.”

“I thought that was the first thing you’d do, you sick piece of shit,” Danny said. “Still trying to tell yourself you’re not a pervert who gets off on cutting up little boys?”

“Don’t make me cut out your tongue next,” Vlad said, slapping a hand over his mouth and curling his fingers harder inside him.

“What are you _doing!?_ ” someone said from the doorway, and there was Junior, with his eyes full of tears and his hands balled into fists. “Why do you always have to fight!?”

“I thought I told you not to bother us,” Vlad said.

“You broke the table!” Junior said, gesturing at the mess of ceramic shards and splinters. “How am I supposed to not bother you after that!?”

As much as Vlad hated to admit it, he had a point.

“Just...please stop, alright?” Junior said, kneeling down next to them, putting his hands on their shoulders. “Please, for me…”

“...get off me,” Danny mumbled through Vlad’s hand, struggling underneath him. Vlad glared down at him for a moment before roughly pulling out his fingers, wiping them on Danny before sitting back and crossing his arms.

“Can’t we just, I dunno, talk this out?” Junior said, gathering up Danny’s limbs and helping him put them back on. “Like a family?”

“We’re not a _family_ , Jun, Vlad’s a sicko and we’re his fucktoys,” Danny muttered, pulling his pants back on.

“...don’t say that,” Junior said.

“It’s true! It’s objectively true and you know it.”

Junior folded in on himself, eyes on the floor. “...you don’t have to say it.”

Vlad felt a little like he’d been slapped. “Alright Junior, come along, we need to have a talk,” he said, tucking himself back into his pants before pulling the clone to his feet and ushering him out. “Is that really how you see me?” Vlad asked when they were back in his office, leaning up against his desk with arms crossed, Junior standing in front of him and fidgeting with his cardigan. “And here I thought I could count on you to take my side.”

Junior sniffled, tears overflowing and running down his face to drip on the floor. “...I love you,” he said. “I’ve loved you as long as I’ve been alive, and there’s nothing you could do to make me love you any less. _Nothing_. And nothing would make me happier than for you to see me as family; your son, your lover, I don’t care, as long as I’m yours.” He finally looked up to meet Vlad’s eyes with the same heartbroken gaze as always. “...I’m not sure you _do_ see me like that, though.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I do,” Vlad said, pulling Junior into his arms, stroking his hair. “You’re my perfect son; you’re my dearest.”

Junior clung to him, but he didn’t reply. Yes, things would be easier for everyone, especially Junior, if he really _was_ stupid enough to believe everything Vlad told him.

“...it’s never gonna happen, is it,” Junior mumbled into his chest. “Cause you and Danny hate each other so much. We’ll never be...forget _happy_ , even just _okay_. None of us.”

“Of course we will,” Vlad said, staring over Junior’s shoulder at the door.

“I dunno how it’d even be possible anymore. Being together’s just making everyone miserable, but none of us can leave. I hate it, I just want everything to be alright…”

“It’s going to be fine, little badger, everything is going to be just fine.”

“I just don’t get it,” Junior said softly.

Vlad didn’t get it either, if he was being honest. None of this had gone as planned. If he could go back and stop himself from ever abducting Danny and prevent this whole mess from happening, he’d do it in a heartbeat, but he couldn’t.

Yes, this had all been a mistake.

 

* * *

 

The next few days were...strained, to put it lightly. Junior always looked on the verge of saying something, or bursting into tears, but he never did either. Danny had something fever-bright and feral behind his eyes, snapping at the slightest thing like a cornered animal, like he was barely holding himself back from screaming or breaking things or burning the mansion to the ground with all three of them inside. And Vlad… Vlad didn’t know what to do.

The answer, once it came to him, was obvious. Cut the Gordian Knot, end all of this while it was still possible to do so. He was resistant to the idea at first, because it meant admitting defeat; not just inside his own head, but to the person he most hated to lose to. But if the alternative was continuing on like this, winding tighter around each other until it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began… He didn’t have a choice.

“What do you want,” Danny said when Vlad called him into his study, leaning against the doorframe with arms crossed.

“This is the information for a checking account in your name,” Vlad said, putting the documents on the desk in front of him. “You’ll note it says ‘Fenton.’ There are five million dollars in it; enough to live comfortably for the rest of your life.”

Danny frowned, cocking his head. “...and?”

“I want you _gone_ , Daniel,” Vlad said, resting his forehead on a hand. “I can’t do this anymore. This, all of this, was a mistake.”

When Vlad looked back up, Danny was staring at him with wide eyes and his mouth hanging open. “...you’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

“What if I tell?”

“I’m not staying here.” He hated the thought of Maddie knowing, even now, but what difference did it make. He already lost her long ago. “And if you mean the tabloids, just try to explain it in a way anyone will believe.”

“You’re serious.”

“Yes, Daniel, I’m serious,” Vlad said. “Go home.”

A moment passed, then another. When Vlad looked up from his desk, Danny’s eyes had that unnatural brightness about them, and his mouth was taut. “...no.”

Now it was Vlad’s turn to be floored. “...for goodness’ sakes, why not!?”

“...I don’t trust you with Jun.”

He sighed through gritted teeth. “Oh, you have _got_ to be joking.”

“If you want _me_ gone so bad, how do I know you won’t just off him as soon as I’m out the door?”

“Then take him with you! Whatever it takes to get you to _go!_ ”

Danny’s mouth worked for a moment. “...he won’t leave you, you know he won’t.”

“...you’re coming up with excuses,” Vlad said, falling back in his chair.

“Am not!”

“Yes you are! I thought you’d _jump_ at the chance to be out of here, but you look almost disappointed! Why don’t you want to leave!?”

Danny didn’t reply, or move, or even blink, for what seemed like an impossibly long time. “...you know what, fine, you’re right,” he finally said, voice quiet and shaky. “You wanna know why, Vladdy? Cause you don’t deserve an easy way out.”

Vlad’s eye twitched. “I beg your pardon?”

“You kidnapped me,” Danny said, pushing off the wall and approaching Vlad’s desk. “You cut off my arms and legs and locked me in a little room in your basement for _months_. You raped me more times than I can even count, you broke me until I _asked_ for it, and now you think you can just fling some money at me and say ‘have a nice life’ and, and that’s _it!?_ ” He slammed his hands on the table. “No. Fuck you. It doesn’t get to be that simple.”

“Then _what_?” Vlad asked, something that was almost desperation in his voice. “What do you want from me, Daniel!? If letting you go isn’t good enough for you, what is!?”

Danny shrunk back a little, their eyes meeting for just a moment. Vlad didn’t know what to make of that look. He’d been expecting anger or hate, and there was some of that, but not entirely. Then Danny turned away and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Vlad stared at the closed door for a moment before turning incorporeal and chasing Danny out into the hallway, taking him by the shoulders and slamming him up against the wall and kissing him.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Danny said, shoving him away.

“This is what you want, isn’t it?” Vlad said, kissing him again, hard, holding Danny by the wrists until he stopped struggling, pulling back to look him in the eyes. The boy looked angry and scared and _confused_ , as confused as Vlad felt, and then Danny tore his hands free and grabbed him by the lapels, slamming him to the ground and straddling him and kissing him.

“I hate you,” he said, shoulders shaking. “I hate you so fucking much that you’re all I can think about.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” That had been what started all of this; Vlad’s obsession with Danny, wanting to hurt him, wanting to cherish him, love and hatred eating each others’ tails until there was nothing left but raw, desperate, irresistible _want_. Even now he didn’t know which he wanted more, to never see Danny’s face again or to never let him out of his sight. If Danny left now, Vlad would spend the next twenty years with that want devouring him from the inside. Just like it had with Maddie.

So what if it was a mistake, when he couldn’t help but make it, when he’d be miserable either way.

He pulled Danny down into his arms, kissing him hard, and the boy clung to Vlad and kissed him back just as passionately. It had been, what, a week since they last had sex? That had to be a record. He’d had Junior, of course, but devotion only went so far, and it was nothing compared to this. Vlad was already achingly hard as he pulled Danny’s clothes off, as Danny tore open his shirt (“What do you have against my clothes?” “They’re _yours_.”) to kiss and suck at his neck, spreading his legs for Vlad, throwing his head back with a gasp of pleasure as the man pushed fingers inside him and curled them hard. Vlad knew this body too well by now, maybe even better than his own. It was a little sickening.

“...hurry up,” Danny panted, hands knotted in the man’s hair, legs twitching as he was readied. “Just, fuck me already…”

Vlad gave him one last hard stretch and slicked himself down, letting out a rough groan as he drove into Danny in a single stroke. He went hard and fast right from the start, not caring if the boy beneath him was hurt, wanting nothing but to lose himself in the pleasure of Danny’s insides.

For his own part, Danny was gasping and moaning, back arching, legs tight around his hips, a cry of “fuck, Vlad…!” slipping from his lips. He pulled Vlad in by the hair, kissing him messily, taking the man’s hand and guiding it to his cock with a breathy “please…”

“...little slut,” Vlad said through gritted teeth, pulling his hand away to grip Danny’s hips tighter, thrust harder, until the boy gave a pained whine that pushed Vlad over the edge with a ragged groan of “Daniel…” Danny kept moving his hips as the man rode it out, grinding up against him until Vlad finally collapsed on top of him, panting for breath. He'd needed that. He hated how much he'd needed that.

“...Vlad…” Danny said, voice a plea, shifting their bodies with a whimper so they were face to face. He was still hard against the man's stomach, face buried in the crook of his neck.

They were in the hallway, Vlad suddenly realized as he pulled out, gently as he could manage. Their clothes were thrown everywhere. It wasn't the first time they'd fucked somewhere like that, not by a long shot, but it was always a little embarrassing after the fact.

“Yes, yes, alright,” Vlad said, picking Danny up and carrying him to the bedroom. When they were in bed together, Danny spooned against Vlad's chest, the man reached down to stroke him, just the way he knew he liked it.

Danny didn't last long, coming with a pitiful moan of “Vlad…!” clinging to his arm and thrusting into his hand, covering it with cum. Vlad wiped it on the sheets as Danny pulled his knees up to his chest, still holding on tight to Vlad's arm.

“I'm so sick of doing this,” Vlad said softly, face buried in Danny's dark hair. “I'm sick of _you_.”

“I love you too, Vladdy,” Danny replied, voice bitter and sarcastic and shaky because he meant it, didn't he. If you hated someone so much you couldn’t leave them alone, maybe that wasn't so different from love.

The door swung open a crack and there was Junior, arms full of their clothes. “Are you done?” he asked with his usual mournful look, dumping Danny's things in the hamper, folding Vlad's trousers and jacket and tie over the back of a chair.

“...yeah,” Danny said. “...y’know Vlad said he wanted me gone?”

Junior froze.

“Daniel…” Vlad said through gritted teeth.

“He said I should take you with me, too.”

Junior slumped down into the chair. “...I don’t wanna leave.”

“Yeah, that’s what I told him.”

The clone pulled his knees up to his chest, shoulders shaking. “Are...are you gonna make me…?”

Danny pushed out of Vlad’s arms, sitting up. “...you’d just...go with me? If he said yes?”

Junior laughed humorlessly. “I mean… What choice have I got? None of this was ever about me.”

“That’s enough, Daniel,” Vlad snapped. “Junior, no one’s going anywhere. Now come here.”

Junior looked up, eyes tearful and bright with relief. “O-of course…!” He fumbled off his clothes, caught himself, and shoved them into the hamper before going to climb into bed.

“Hey, c’mere,” Danny said, shifting away from Vlad and patting the space between them.

Junior looked at Vlad, who shrugged, then nestled in between the two of them. “...sorry,” he murmured.

“Whatever for?” Vlad asked.

The clone just shrugged helplessly.

“It’s fine, Jun,” Danny said, throwing an arm over him. “You’re a good kid. Right, Vlad?”

“Y-yes, of course,” Vlad said, giving Junior a kiss. He still didn’t really know what he was going on about, but this was easier than having to comfort the boy when he inevitably burst into tears.

“See? One thing we can agree on.”

This couldn’t last, Vlad thought as he turned away from the boys. Sooner or later, something would have to give, and this delicate almost-balance would crumble. And as bad as this was, whatever followed would have to be even worse.

Maybe this is what they deserved, all of them.


	4. Three Waiting Shelves in the Family Crypt

**Vlad Masters**

Junior was playing video games when Danny threw the door open and ran in. “We need to leave, Jun.”

“I’m in the middle of a boss fight, just let me… Hey!” he said as Danny pulled the power cable out of the wall, screen going black. “What the heck are you…” And then Junior turned pale, seeming to notice the look on Danny’s face, and the fact that the collar around his neck was gone.

“We need to leave _now_ ,” Danny said, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him off the couch and down the hall towards the laboratory.

“Wait, you can’t just… Where’s Vlad?” Jun said, dragging his feet, struggling to free his arm from Danny’s metal grip. “...he’s coming too, right?”

“He’s not.”

“Danny?” Danny could hear the panic in his voice and he could see the fear in his eyes without looking. “What did you _do_ _!?_ ”

“I’ll explain later, alright?” Danny said, pulling Junior along behind him, before stumbling as he suddenly found his hand empty.

“No, you’re gonna explain right now,” Junior said, incorporeal in front of him as he turned, shoulders shaking and mouth set. “What did you do to Vlad?”

Danny grit his teeth. He’d been hoping he could at least get Junior out of here before telling him, but he really should have known better. “...he’s dead, okay? He’s dead and I rigged the lab to explode and we really need to get to the ghost portal before that happens, okay!?”

Junior’s eyes went wide, the last bit of color draining from his face, standing there in a daze. Danny went to grab him again, but before he had a chance Junior _screamed_ , loud and piercing and agonizing with the ghostly wail that found its way into it. It was the chance he needed though; Junior was too drained to react when Danny went ghost for the first time in what must have been months, hitting him with a blast of energy that knocked him clean out.

Sighing through his teeth, he hoisted Junior up into his arms, turning them both incorporeal and heading for the ghost portal.

 

Frostbite was more than happy to let the Great One and his 'brother' stay with them for as long as they needed, of course. Danny was buried in a pile of furs in an icy cave, arms around his knees, when he heard a soft “...you killed him.” When he turned to look Junior was awake next to him, staring up at him with tearful, bitter eyes.

“...I had to,” Danny said, curling tighter into himself, burying his face in his knees.

“How can you say that?” Junior asked. “I loved him. You _knew_ I loved him.”

“Yeah, I knew.”

“I just...wanted us to, to be a family,” he said, starting to choke on his words. Danny could feel his body shiver against him. “What’s so...bad about that…?”

“...I just couldn’t,” Danny said, shifting to pull Junior into a hug, stroking his hair, just like Vlad always used to. “I’m sorry, I mean it, I didn’t wanna hurt you, I just… I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“I can’t...live without him...”

“Of course you can, Jun.”

“You don’t understand, I _can’t…_!” he said, pushing him back to meet his eyes, looking more scared and lost than Danny had ever seen him. “...you should just kill me too.”

He should have expected this. “I can’t do that, you know I can’t.”

“Why not!?” he sobbed. “You did it to him, didn’t you!?”

Danny kissed him, one hand in his hair and one around his waist, doing his best to imitate the way Vlad kissed, holding Junior until he stopped struggling, wrapped his arms around him, kissed him back. “...I’ll take responsibility,” Danny said, forehead to forehead with Junior. “I’ll be the one to take care of you. I’ll do everything Vlad would have done.”

A moment passed, then another. “...you have to promise,” Junior finally said. “You’ll never leave me, as long as we live. That’s the only way I’ll ever forgive you.”

“...I promise,” Danny said, because there wasn’t anything else he could say.

Junior kissed him like he’d never kissed Danny before, hard and needy and desperate, hands knotted in the back of his shirt, rutting up against him. Like he kissed Vlad. And Danny kissed him back, reaching between their bodies to stroke him, spreading his legs and wetting fingers in his mouth and slipping them inside him, fingering him as Junior shifted to take Danny in his mouth.

It wasn’t as though he hadn’t been prepared for this. Vlad was Junior’s entire world. He wasn’t complete on his own, and Vlad had been the one to fill the holes. In more ways than one. With Vlad gone, someone else would have to take his place, and there was no one else it could be but Danny.

And besides, Junior was still young, barely a year old. He might not be able to survive on his own now, but that could change, couldn’t it? At least, that was what Danny kept telling himself. And even if it didn’t, even if he really was stuck looking after Junior for the rest of both their lives, even if he had to deal with the absolute mess that was being in a pseudo-incestuous relationship with his clone-brother who didn’t legally exist, well, this was all his fault in the first place. He wasn’t a good person, not anymore. This was the least he could do to make up for that.

Junior moaned into Danny’s cock as he came, sucking hard and swallowing around him, pushing him over the edge with a soft gasp of “Jun…”

The clone swallowed and licked off the cum he’d gotten on Danny’s hip before cuddling back into his arms. “...tell me you love me.”

“I love you, Jun.”

“Call me yours.”

“...my dearest,” Danny said softly, stomach twisting with self-loathing. “My sweet.”

Junior buried his face in his chest and sobbed.

“I called my parents,” Danny said, stroking Junior’s hair. “I told them I’m...we’re alright. We’re going home, I just… I need some time to figure out how to explain all of this.” Time to brace himself to look them in the eye after everything that had been done to him, everything that he’d done.

“...that’s not my home.”

“It will be. I promise. I know they’ll like you as soon as they know you’re, y’know, not me.”

Junior just sniffled and held him tighter.

 

* * *

 

**Daniel Masters**

Junior was the one who found the body.

Neither of them had seen Danny all day, and when he didn’t come to dinner and wouldn’t answer his phone, Junior went to look for him. He’d done this before, when he was sulking or distracted. It wasn’t anything unusual. So when Junior found Danny up in the observatory, curled up on the loveseat, he thought he was just asleep, at first. “C’mon, Danny, wake up, it’s dinnertime,” he said, shaking his shoulder. And then he realized he wasn’t breathing.

Everything after that was a bit of a blur. Junior remembered screaming until the walls shuddered, Vlad running up the stairs with a cry of “Daniel…!” and shaking his body and taking his pulse and finally slumping to the floor next to him in a daze.

“Vlad, what’s wrong with him, is he okay?” Junior was babbling, fighting back tears as he clung to Vlad’s arm. “Please tell me he’s okay, please, oh god, what do we _do?_ ”

Vlad didn’t even seem to realize he was there. He was just staring at Danny’s body, frozen. He was crying. Vlad was crying, _Vlad_ , and that’s when Junior knew Danny wasn’t going to be okay.

Junior buried his face in Vlad’s lap with a sob, clinging to him and crying and crying for who knew how long. He must have cried himself to sleep, because the next thing he knew, he was back in bed. His own bed, for the first time he could remember. Vlad was sitting on the edge, the dark circles under his eyes more pronounced than ever, hair falling out of its ponytail, doing something on his PDA.

“Vlad…” Junior said, already feeling his nose start to sting with the threat of tears again.

Vlad looked up, meeting Junior’s eyes for just an instant before looking away again. “...I didn’t want to leave you alone,” he said, smoothing his hair back. “But I need to do an autopsy.”

“...autopsy…?” Junior knew what the word meant, of course he did, but it wasn’t sinking in. “...why? For...for who…?”

Vlad leaned forward, burying his face in his hands, massaging his temples. “...Daniel. I think I know how he...did it, but I want to be sure.”

Junior climbed out of bed and hugged him, pulling Vlad’s head up to his chest and stroking his hair even as he felt himself starting to cry. “...but he’s fine, right?” he said, almost laughing. “I mean, he’s half ghost, we all are, so, he can’t…”

Slowly, Vlad shook his head no.

Junior held him tighter, shoulders shaking as he sobbed. His eyes were puffy and sore, it felt like he’d done nothing but cry, but he couldn’t help it. Danny, his brother, his original, his best friend, the only other person he had in the world except for Vlad, was gone. He… He used to make comments, all the time, more than Vlad probably knew because he always put on a brave face in front of Vlad, but Junior really should have seen this coming, with how much Danny talked about it. But he always said it like it was a joke, like he’d never actually _do_ it, and whenever Junior asked if he was alright or if there was anything he could do for him he’d just say “...what do you think.” Which wasn’t an answer and wasn’t anything he could do. Danny should have just _said_ something. If he knew it was that bad, even Vlad would have had to do something different, right? He didn’t want this, he was just as shattered as Junior, why hadn’t Danny _said_ something? Maybe if Junior had just been more persistent, if he hadn’t let Danny brush things off as jokes, if he’d gotten Vlad to understand how unhappy Danny really was, then maybe…

“...I can sedate you, if you want,” Vlad said into Junior’s chest. “So you can sleep.”

“...uh-huh.”

 

Junior sleepwalked through the next days. Him and Vlad both started sleeping in Junior’s bed; Vlad’s felt too big for just two, even if it had been just the two of them for months. Junior was asleep more often than not, getting up only to eat, washing only when Vlad led him to the shower and scrubbed him down. Vlad mentioned things about cause of death and funeral arrangements and what to tell his family, but Junior barely heard. He didn’t want to think about anything.

 

The funeral was quiet; just the two of them. They scattered Danny’s ashes, and they went home.

“...do you think he’ll come back?” Junior asked, staring into his mug of hot cocoa.

“You know that’s not how it works,” Vlad said, equally lost in his coffee.

“But that’s why you chose the Ghost Zone, right?”

Vlad didn’t reply.

“What now?”

“We go back to the way things were before,” Vlad said, still not looking up. “Isn’t it better this way? You can be my Daniel again.”

Junior shook his head. “...you don’t mean that.”

“...no,” Vlad said. “I don’t. It wouldn’t be the same, anyways.”

“It really wouldn’t.” He took a long sip of his cocoa. It was barely lukewarm. “What are we gonna do?”

Vlad sighed. “I don’t know. I was thinking we could go somewhere else for a while. Travel. They say Paris is nice this time of year.”

Junior shrugged. He didn’t really want to go to Paris. He didn’t want to go anywhere, or do anything, but he didn’t want to stay here either. Everything reminded him of Danny. “...sure.”

Vlad pushed his coffee away and stood up, walking around the table to pull Junior up from his seat and kiss him, awkward and hesitant, the way he had that first night. It was the first time they’d kissed since Danny passed. Junior hadn’t even realized how much he missed it.

He wrapped his arms around Vlad and kissed him back, let the man pick him up and carry him to bed and undress him, doing everything himself, the way he used to back before Junior even knew Danny existed, but it wasn’t the same. He’d gotten used to his original being there; kissing and touching each other as Vlad watched, or being taken by Vlad and sucking Junior off, or even just lying there with his back turned and a pillow over his head as they had sex next to him. Junior missed it. He knew he shouldn’t, Danny never liked it, he always had the most disgusted, self-loathing look on his face afterwards, he hated it so much he couldn’t live with it, but Junior couldn’t help it.

“Oh, Junior…” Vlad murmured, pulling back from where he was kissing his neck when the boy started to sniffle and embracing him, stroking his hair. “It’s alright, little badger, we don’t have to. It’s alright.”

“...I miss him,” Junior mumbled into Vlad’s chest, dampening his skin with tears.

“...I do too.”

 

* * *

 

**Vlad Masters Junior**

“...I really do love both of you,” Junior had said one night, head resting on Vlad’s chest, a hand on Danny's shoulder. “I know it can be hard sometimes, but I’m glad I was born. Thanks.”

“What’s this all of a sudden?” Vlad mumbled, half asleep.

“Nothing,” Junior said. “I just felt like saying it, y’know?”

“I love you too, little badger,” Vlad said, and drifted off.

He woke up the next morning in a pool of ectoplasm.

Danny was still asleep next to Vlad; sunlight was pouring in through the cracks in the blinds. He sat up, looked at what had become of his 'son,' tried to get his brain to process what had happened.

Junior must not have been that stable after all. That was the conclusion Vlad came to. The boy must have spent the last however long quietly holding himself together so as not to cause trouble, until finally he couldn’t any more. That was just like him; he had always tried so hard to be helpful, to stay out of the way, to make everyone get along. And neither Vlad nor Danny noticed a thing. Or no, Vlad had vaguely suspected that there was more to Junior’s pained smiles and weak constitution, but he’d always just told himself it would be fine. If there was something really wrong with him, he’d say so. He should have known better.

Maybe this was for the best. All the ways in which Junior was incomplete and inhuman ate at him; he was stuck with two people who were constantly at each others’ throats when all he wanted was for the three of them to be a family; he was hopelessly in love with a man he knew all too well wasn’t deserving of it. It couldn’t have been much of a life.

And yet, he said he was glad he was born.

As many times as Vlad found himself frustrated with Junior, wishing he’d leave him alone, or that he’d never made him in the first place, now that he was gone…

Vlad got up, wiped himself off on a clean corner of the sheets, tried to clean up the mess. It wasn’t long before Danny shifted, turning around to face him. “What’re you doing…” he mumbled sleepily, taking in what was happening. “...you’re crying.”

Vlad blinked, raised a hand to his face. “...yes, I suppose I am.”

Danny looked from him to the puddle of green, then back, frowning. “What the…”

“Junior.”

“Huh.” Danny shifted to prop himself up against the headboard, frowning slightly as he stared at the mess. “Is he…”

“No,” Vlad said before realizing that wasn't really an answer. “He’s… He’s gone.”

“...huh.” Danny didn't look up. “Figures.” He gave a sharp, humorless laugh, then another, turning to rest his forehead against the headboard and laughing and laughing. There were tears dripping onto the pillow. “You’re not gonna make another one, are you? Please tell me you’re not gonna make another one.”

“Of course I’m not…!” Vlad said. “Surely even _you_ don’t think I’m that much of a monster.”

“Hell if I know,” Danny said. “You made him in the first place, didn’t you?”

“...I didn’t know it would turn out like this.” He never would have done it if he’d known.

And yet, Junior said he was glad to be alive. He must have known that was his last night, and he still said it.

He deserved so much better than the life he had.

As frustrating as Vlad had found him, he’d meant it when he told the boy he loved him. Compulsion or no, Junior had adored him in a way no one else ever had; it was impossible not to return some part of that adoration.

“Help me get these sheets off the bed,” Vlad said.

 

The tests Vlad ran--more out of force of habit than anything--confirmed what he thought. Junior had been unstable. He hadn’t run tests on him in a long while, so it was hard to be sure, but he’d probably been slowly decaying this entire time. And he’d known, and he hadn’t said anything, because he didn’t want to be a nuisance. What a stupid boy.

Vlad didn’t know what to do with the remains. It was awfully difficult to cremate ectoplasm. Finally he settled on putting it in an urn as-is and burying it in the garden. Like a pet. He felt sick.

Danny was playing video games; he’d been playing video games all day, as far as Vlad could tell. He didn’t look away from the screen as Vlad sat down next to him. “I buried him.”

“Mm.”

“...I think you should go back home.”

Danny was focusing so intently Vlad wasn’t sure he’d even heard until he said “Yeah, maybe.”

Junior had been the one who wanted them all to be happy together. He was the one who wanted them to be a family. He was the one keeping them all here, and with him gone, so was that.

Or maybe it was just hard to feel much of anything right now, whether it be love or hatred.

“You’ll give me one last night, won’t you? For him?”

Danny paused the game. When he turned to face Vlad, his eyes were red and puffy. “Yeah, sure.”

Vlad kissed him and Danny let him, let him wrap him in his arms and carry him to bed (Danny’s bed, he couldn’t stand to see his own right now), undress him, ready him. Doing all the work himself, just like he used to with Junior. His pampered little prince. Danny was soft and pliant under him, moaning and gasping and squirming, and it would almost be possible to pretend it was him, if not for the unyielding metal of the arms and legs that wrapped around Vlad as he thrust. When he came, it was more to put an end to this already than anything else. He got the feeling Danny felt the same.

“...if I wanted to see you again, every so often, would you let me?” Vlad asked when they were folded in each other’s arms, catching their breath.

“Yeah, why not.”

Maybe this was all for the best. Tomorrow Danny would go home and they’d both do their best to go back to the lives they had before any of this began. That was all Vlad had wanted.

He just felt so hollow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to YagoLafine for reminding me that I needed to finish this dang thing already ^^;;


End file.
